Explaining trash talk

This is with regards the article, "Garganera Eyes Suing City Anew," which appeared last August 11, 2017. We feel sad that instead of being appreciated for the assistance we gave to the City of Cebu to avert a garbage crisis last May 2017, our company is now being put in a negative light.

Please allow us to respond to the statement: "With this, he is eyeing including the EVO Enviro Solutions Inc. to be among the respondents of the case for its failure to observe environmental laws."

When we received the report on our supposed violations from the DENR, we met with DENR officials last July 11, 2017 and explained last July 24, 2017. The main violation pointed out by the current DENR officials was our facility not having an ECC as a transfer station.

While applying for an ECC for our facility, the previous DENR officials never told us we needed to secure a separate ECC for the transfer station. From our end, we had always thought that the transfer station is an integral part of our Material Recovery Facility. In fact, we have a leachate treatment pond and a cemented tipping floor for our facility. DENR officials and even members of the Cebu Solid Waste Management Board frequently visited our facility and not once was our attention was called. During the term of Mayor Rama, our facility was introduced as a transfer station when the Inayawan Landfill was closed and the city and barangay trucks had a hard time throwing at the Consolacion landfill. Unfortunately, during the visit of the current DENR officials, our pond was no longer visible since trash was stored in our facility, of which the explanation is stated below. To control the stench, we sprayed the area.

We would like to clarify, too, regarding the other uses of our facility in Inayawan. Our facility is not just a transfer station. It is an Integrated Waste Management Facility, which has the following components: 1) composting facility, 2) material recovery facility, 3) refuse-derived fuel facility, and 4) transfer station. For this year, however, the city of Cebu decided to take advantage of its use as a transfer station.

What are the advantages to the city of having a nearby transfer station? With a nearby transfer station, the barangay trucks, which have a capacity of only 3 to 4 tons per truck, will use up only thirty minutes to bring the municipal solid waste (MSW) to the transfer station and another thirty minutes to return to their designated garbage trucks are transferred by the city's designated hauler to their big garbage trucks, which has a capacity of 10 to 15 tons per truck, and the hauler brings the MSW to the landfill. In Cebu, travel to and from the landfill can take at least 3 hours, and the barangay garbage trucks will have to pass through other cities and municipalities, which have a lot of rough roads. By just bringing the MSW to the transfer station, the barangay garbage trucks will have more time to collect from their designated areas, and the barangay garbage trucks are minimized and their fuel allocation are used in collection rather than travelling all the way to a landfill. Repairing a damaged barangay garbage truck takes a long process, as before purchasing the spare parts it will still have to go through canvassing. A barangay garbage truck on downtime affects the efficiency of the City's garbage collection.

Since the hauler was supposed to haul out the MSW brought daily to our facility and bring to a landfill. what caused then the piles of garbage still in our facility? Last May 2017, the city held a bidding for the hauling and disposal of the city's MSW to a landfill. However, there was a delay in awarding a new hauler as the hauler of that time questioned their disqualification. When we learned that no hauler was awarded yet, we instructed our operations people in our facility to stop accepting trash from the city. Officials of the city, however, pleaded with us to continue accepting MSW to avert a "garbage crisis," and assured us that we will not be left with piles of garbage. We understood the city's position and relied on their commitment. Thus, for seventeen days last May 2017, waste was brought to our facility by the city's garbage trucks, but nothing was being hauled out as no hauler yet has been awarded the contract. Good thing, our 7000-sqm-facility was big enough to accommodate such quantities for emergencies. This was a huge assistance we extended to the city. More than a month after a hauler has been awarded, we observed that the hauler hauled out the fresh garbage daily, but nothing of the 17-days garbage was being hauled out. We reminded city officials several times of their commitment, but there was very little movement of the old 17-days garbage. Thus, we wrote a letter to Mayor Tomas Osmeña dated July 12, 2017, and a follow-up letter dated August 7, 2017. Before your newspaper article came out, a city official explained to us that there is a coming bidding for the hauling and disposal of the City's MSW, but this time with a bigger budget, which I was assured will already accommodate the old 17-days garbage.

We hope this clarifies the issues raised against our facility.

Very truly yours,

Allan Roy Rodriguez

Operations Manager Evo Enviro Solutions, Inc.