City scouts for location of dump site

CEBU City Hall might open a new dumpsite for the city’s trash soon.

Former councilor Nida Cabrera said the new facility is part of the closure plan for the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill in Barangay Inayawan.

“The next step for the city once the landfill will be closed permanently is really to look for another site,” she said.

In an interview, Cabrera, who has been assigned by Mayor Tomas Osmeña to oversee matters pertaining to the Inayawan landfill, said they have identified three areas as new location for the dumpsite: a 19-hectare City-owned lot in the mountain barangay of Guba, a 12-hectare privately owned property in Barangay Kalunasan, and a 10-hectare privately owned lot in Barangay Binaliw.

According to Cabrera, these areas have been identified as a host to the city’s garbage even before the term of Osmeña ended in 2010.

In fact, the Environmental Management Bureau 7 has inspected some of them, she said.

“Si Tommy naay gipapangita nga areas sa una. Nahunong lang to kay murag wa may interest si Mike (former mayor Michael Rama) nga mo-push ato (It didn’t push through because Rama wasn’t interested),” she said.

Instructions

With Osmeña back at City Hall, Cabrera said they are awaiting for instructions on the plans for a new dumpsite.

Rama partially closed the Inayawan landfill in 2011. It only served as a transfer station where bigger trucks picked up the garbage collected by barangay-owned trucks, as the bigger ones are bettersuited for the trip to the private sanitary landfill in Consolacion.

In 2015, Rama shut down fully the facility, 17 years after it started operating.

A few weeks ago, however, the administration of Osmeña decided to reopen the landfill so the City can save millions of funds in tipping fees that it pays to the private landfill in Consolacion.

Vacant

Cabrera said the City can continue to use the Inayawan landfill for another two years before it will have to be permanently closed, since there is still a vacant area, around five hectares, in the site.

The former councilor assured that if the City will have a new dump site, the host community will be properly consulted.

Cabrera said they will look into the areas previously identified, particularly those that are privately owned, to see if they haven’t been sold yet.

Ideally, Cabrera said, the City would only need around five hectares for the new dump site, considering that they are employing a new scheme now that will reduce the garbage.

This includes composting the biodegradables and converting plastics as alternative fuel.

Meanwhile, the City wrote the Department of Interior and Local Government and asked that they be allowed to use the P55-million it gave to construct a material recovery facility (MRF) inside the landfill and another one in Kalunasan.