Bigger, better, cheaper landfills

ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has ordered a review, and revision, of existing policy to pave the way for the establishment and operation of better, and bigger, sanitary landfills that even resource-poor local government units (LGUs) can afford.

To make this happen, the DENR chief has tasked Environment Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Benny D. Antiporda to review and recommend changes to Department of Environment and Natural Resources Administrative Order 2001-34, or the Implementing Rules and Regulation of Republic Act 9003.

The use of sanitary landfills as the method of garbage disposal is allowed under Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste

Management Act of 2000, which LGUs are duty-bound to follow.

A sanitary landfill is a solidwaste management facility that utilizes an engineered method of waste disposal, primarily for municipal solid waste. An “engineered” method of landfilling means that garbage is handled at a disposal facility that is designed, constructed, and operated, in a way that protects public health and the environment.

However, most LGUs complain that building and maintaining a sanitary landfill can be costly and, somewhat, complicated.

In a statement, Cimatu said he wants to make the establishment and operation of a sanitary landfill simple, and cheaper, without sacrificing the main objective of proper garbage disposal, which includes preventing leachate from polluting waterways.

Cimatu lamented the fact that, two decades after RA 9003 was enacted, only about 10 percent of LGUs nationwide have sanitary landfills.

Cimatu had earlier said that effective solid-waste management may be expensive, but LGUs are not without options.

He said that adjacent municipalities or cities may pool their resources to establish a common sanitary landfill.

If money is a problem, LGUs may also access government loans, particularly the one being offered by the Development Bank of the Philippines under its green financing program, he added.

LGUs, he said, can come up with a scheme to pay back the loan, such as through collection of tipping fees. Jonathan L. Mayuga