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CITY OF
MALOLOS—As personnel of the Waste Custodian Management
Inc., the operator of the newly inaugurated sanitary
landfill in Norzagaray town, are busy preparing for its
inaugural operation, environmentalists in Bulacan have
proposed alternatives to prevent the sanitary landfill
from operating.
With the
problems besetting the garbage dumps in Rodriguez, Rizal,
the newly inaugurated sanitary landfill in sitio Tiakad,
barangay San Mateo in Norzagaray town is being eyed by
the environment department and the Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority (MMDA) as an alternative dump for
Metro Manila’s garbage.
Arthur
Legazpi, secretary of the Waste Custodian Management,
told the BusinessMirror that the company is just waiting
for the confirmation of MMDA officials before it accepts
garbage from Metro Manila.
Legazpi
also said that a memorandum of agreement is waiting to
be signed between the company and City of
Malolos
officials, as well as the Marilao local government, for
the company to accommodate the garbage from the said
areas.
With
these developments, Martin Francisco, executive director
of Lake Galilee-Katribu Foundation, a member of the
Sagip Sierra Madre Multisectoral Coordinating Council,
said the operation of the sanitary landfill may pose
irreversible damage to the environment, and added that
there are now alternative solutions to the mounting
garbage problem that can be constructed in the barangay
or municipal level where people can work together and
make it as a source of livelihood.
He said
“the solution to the problem of solid-waste disposal is
so simple, it is staggering…even a five-year-old child
can do it…it can be done anywhere: households, offices,
schools, hospitals, markets, etc.,” and that is through
segregation.
Francisco said segregated garbage like “recyclables and
factory-returnables should be returned to the factories
for recycling back to paper, plastic, bottles and cans.”
“All
food, animal and garden waste should be converted into
compost right in your own backyard; if not available
[backyard], it is the moral duty of your local
government to build or buy a composter [from the
Department of Science and Technology] and collect
compostable materials from households in separate
trucks.
“Discarded rubber tires should be collected by your
local government and palletized [machines are available
at DOST] for mixing with asphalt.”
“All
markets and slaughter houses should have a digester tank
that converts organic waste [such as animal entrails and
hair] and food waste into methane gas.”
He
added, “All residuals or unrecyclables should be
processed in the now-available hydromex plants, which
are locally produced and very cheap, compared with the
state-of-the-art plants such as sanitary landfills.”
Francisco said, “The hydromex plants are cheap. A
hydromex plant big enough to process Metro
Manila’s residual garbage costs only P50 million.
These
simple solutions to the mounting garbage problem of the
country, Francisco said can be made much easier if
local governments concerned are persuaded to collect
solid waste in separate trucks for easy and convenient
handling.
With
reference to the sanitary landfill in Norzagaray town,
Francisco noted that the Tiakad area is part of the
ancestral domain of the Dumagat.
He added
that “solid waste and hazardous waste landfills emit
toxic gases that may cause cancer and respiratory
ailments. |
