MALAYBALAY CITY(MindaNews/25 August)- The city’s garbage collection volume dropped by seven tons a year after the local government passed an ordinance on waste segregation based on the Ecological Waster Management Act or Republic Act 9003, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office said.
Garbage collected from June 2010 to May this year was only 15 tons or seven tons less than the amount of garbage collected from June 2009 to May 2010, said Ma. Anita Fernandez, CENRO chief.
City Ordinance No. 669 or the local waste segregation law was passed in 2009. The ordinance requires households and establishments to segregate wastes that are meant for collection and imposes penalties for violations.
Fernandez said the imposition of penalties stared in February this year, and they have issued a total of 30 citation tickets so far. First-time offense means a fine of P500 for households and P1,000 for commercial establishments.
She said that of 15 tons collected, only six tons were biodegradable, which goes to the city’s bio-reactor in Can-ayan village, the location of its present dumpsite.
The city government started to operate the bio-reactor since November 2010 and has produced organic fertilizer, she added.
Fernandez said the city’s materials recovery facility, where they have a plastic densifier, started to operate this year. The City ENRO produces tiles and flower pots made from processed plastic, she added, which they supplied to the offices of the city government.
She clarified that they have only implemented the ordinance in the city’s poblacion area composed of 11 barangays and the villages of Sumpong and Kalasungay.
The City ENRO was created only last year when Fernandez was appointed as officer in charge. She was given a permanent position only this year. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
