Inayawan landfill may open next week, Margot says

Despite the fires that broke out during summer, the Inayawan Landfill still has room to accommodate more garbage from the city, City Hall officials say. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

The Inayawan landfill site may open next week to accommodate the 300 tons of garbage discharged by the city every month.

In yesterday’s press conference, Cebu City Acting Mayor Margot Osmeña told reporters that work on reopening the landfill is ongoing and it can be fully operational by July.

She said reopening the Inayawan landfill will enable garbage trucks to make multiple collections and help save the city millions of pesos used to pay for the disposal of garbage in Consolacion town.

“Imagine we are paying P700 a ton (and we pay for 300 tons of garbage) if you used a hauler we are paying P1,500 each, and there was no contract and no purchase order. And up to now, they (Asian Energy Corp.) are trying to collect, that’s P29 million they are trying to collect but there are no papers,” she said.

Outgoing City Councilor Nida Cabrera said the city already wrote the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) about their proposal to reopen the landfill.

John Paul Gelasque, acting Cebu City Department of Public Services (DPS) chief, said both the General Services Office (GSO) and the Department of Engineer and Public Works (DEPW) are working together to redevelop the landfill.

“What we are doing now is clearing the access road since it’s already covered. We have to make a service road, but this is the old service road. We just have to make a road again so our dump trucks can pass,” he said.

Outgoing Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama ordered the full closure of the Inayawan landfill in January 15 last year, three years after the DENR issued the closure order.

The Inayawan landfill was designed to last only for seven years and was supposed to close in 2005.

The landfill’s total land area is 15.41 hectares but 11 hectares are used to house the garbage.

Gelasque said the landfill can still accommodate garbage up to two more years.

“Sa pinakatumoy nga service road modagan pa ni siya sa usa o duha ka tuig kay dako pa kaayo og hawan (At the farthest edge of the service road, it can still receive garbage up to two more years because the land is still big),” he said.

Gelasque said Mansei Recycle Systems Co., a Japanese company which converts plastics to fuel, is still operating inside the landfill’s compound.

He said they will meet with the firm to discuss ways to reduce the odor around the landfill.