Council passes law to manage special wastes in Cebu City

Household consumers and commercial establishments will soon be required to bring and store their special wastes in designated collection points in their barangays for proper disposal.

This after the City Council approved an ordinance providing for the management of special wastes in the city.

“There is an urgent need to enact legislation to ensure proper management of special wastes,” said City Councilor Nida Cabrera, chairperson of the Committee on Environment and co-sponsor of the ordinance which was passed last week.

The ordinance which was co-sponsored by acting Vice Mayor Nestor Archival, chairman of the Committee on Energy, aims to implement proper management of special wastes that shall protect and promote the interest and welfare of the residents in the city.

SPECIAL WASTES

Special wastes include consumer electronics and other household hazardous wastes, which end up mixed with municipal wastes.

Cabrera said that a global market study and forecast for the period 2013 to 2020 showed that reduced life spans of electrical, electronic and consumer electronic devices coupled with the growing need for upgrading to the latest technologies lead to the generation of millions of tons of electronic wastes across the globe.

Based on a 2012 study by the A2d Project-research Group for Alternatives to Development Inc., 57 of 80 barangays in Cebu City with 1,636 respondents, revealed that almost half of the respondents are not completely aware of the hazardous products of the present generation.

“About 42.60 percent of the respondents were completely unaware of hazardous products, specially products which are most likely to contain mercury, and they were also unaware of the proper disposal method of these wastes,” Cabrera said.

Cabrera added that while the management of Industrial hazardous wastes are governed by existing protocols of the DENR-Environment Management Bureau, the management of special wastes, which include consumer electronics, and the regulation of informal waste recyclers need attention and appropriate guidelines from the local government units.

According to the ordinance, generators of special wastes will be required to segregate special wastes and store them in a safe area prior to collection or they can bring them to a barangay collection point where they can store it for at least 30 days.

The ordinance will apply to household consumers, commercial establishments, LGU-materials recovery facilities and formal and informal waste recyclers involved in the life cycle of special wastes.

Fees and penalties will be imposed for non-compliance with the ordinance. A fine of P1,000 for the first offense, P3,000 for the second and P5,000 on the third offense will be imposed.

PLASTIC WASTE

Meanwhile, the City Council also wants the Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB) to adopt additional recommendations in improving the city’s waste management including requiring barangays and business establishments to bring their plastic wastes to a facility in Inayawan.

They also want the SWMB to finalize the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the ordinance prohibiting the use of plastic bags in the city during Saturdays to also include Wednesdays.

In an approved resolution sponsored by councilor Cabrera, the council cited the increase in solid waste generated by the city.

“Such phenomenon is occurring in the City of Cebu with an increase in mixed waste generated, collected and disposed to final disposal sites, requiring a parallel increase in cost and annual budget allocations for solid waste management if the City fails to set guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction,” Cabrera said in her resolution.

She cited a report by the World Bank which stated that the estimated trash generated by Philippine cities will increase to 165 percent in 2025 resulting from a projected 47.3 percent hike in urban population.

She suggested that the SWMB should address the lack of a long-term Solid Waste Management Plan, which is required by Republic Act 9003 to be submitted to the National Solid Waste Management Commission.

A Committee on Solid Waste Management Plan which is provided under City Ordinance No. 2017 has to be reactivated, she said.

Another recommendation is for Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella to direct barangays and business establishments, through the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) and Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), respectively, to deliver separately collected non-rigid plastic waste materials to the plastic-to-fuel facility in barangay Inayawan.

Cabrera also recommended to fully utilize the P15-million grant from the 2012 Local Governance Support Fund of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to upgrade the city’s centralized Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) in barangays Kalunasan and Talamban.