That garbage problem

One of many issues I remembered outgoing Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama mentioned during one of his media leaders fora was his stand on the city’s garbage problem.

Rama said he didn’t believe Cebu City needed a landfill because it would run counter to his vision of having a sustainable, developed city. Being a supporter of a Metro Cebu Development Authority in which Metro Cebu local government units (LGUs) work out common problems like traffic and garbage, Rama said it was better for the city to pay another LGU to accept its garbage

rather than having to build another one in the city.

Hence the negotiations between the cities of Cebu and Talisay that would involve Cebu City dumping its garbage in Talisay City’s landfill, a deal that fell through because of the landfill’s proximity to Talisay City Hall, the opposition of Talisay City officials and the fact that said landfill didn’t meet the requirements set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for an operational landfill site.

Ah, what a difference an incoming change of administration makes. Ever the cost-cutting type, Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña said he will reopen the closed down Inayawan landfill site while they think of ways to handle the city’s garbage problem.

I read reports that the incoming administration may consider the idea of privatizing garbage collection, but I wonder if they will also consider finding another suitable landfill site.

The DENR isn’t opposed to a landfill site, only that it meets the requirements set forth in the Solid Waste Management Act. The closure of the Inayawan landfill site was a long time coming since the DENR said it already exceeded its capacity to house garbage.

But it’s not as if the outgoing Rama administration didn’t have other plans to deal with the garbage problem. In a Facebook post, lawyer Jade Ponce, who previously chaired the Solid Waste Management Board, mentioned about a recycling facility that would have converted plastic and other recyclable materials into useful products that can be sold to the public.

Acting Cebu City Mayor Margot Osmeña acknowledged this and questioned why it wasn’t maximized. She was told by personnel that the waste management and segregation program didn’t work out, which probably led the Rama administration to spending millions just to have hired haulers to dump the garbage in a faraway Consolacion landfill site aside from paying for its tipping fee which also runs into the millions of pesos.

With no proper and aggressive education campaign on waste management and disposal — aside from threats not to collect properly segregated garbage — the Rama administration had to overly rely on city funds to pay not only for the hauling and tipping fees but also for the fuel and repair of the existing garbage trucks.

The fact that the Rama administration managed to deplete in less than six months the entire annual budget for the tipping and hauling fees of the city’s garbage merely confirmed just how ill-advised, liberal and excessive its spending habits were.

But while an ongoing inventory of the city’s finances will probably show a more accurate picture of the city’s financial health, I hope the city government will have a better long-term solution to the city’s garbage problem.

Reopening the Inayawan landfill is at best a stop-gap measure. Wouldn’t it be more practical or better for the city to build another landfill or privatize the garbage collection?

Considering that the La Niña season is coming, it’s best for the city to deal with its garbage problem lest the city’s garbage find its way to the canals and the waterways and cause more flooding than usual.