CEBU CITY -- Cebu City Hall will have to shell out P43.2 million yearly as tipping fee to other dumpsites if it pursues the total closure of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill in October.
The Solid Waste Management Board (SWMRB) said the City will have to pay P120,000 per day or at least P3.6 million a month so that the city's garbage will be diverted.
At present, the City is studying whether to divert the city's garbage to the landfill of Consolacion town once the Inayawan landfill is closed. The City is still negotiating, though, with the northern town’s officials about the plan.
Department of Public Services (DPS) Chief Engr. Dionisio Gualiza, in an earlier interview, said he would prefer that the City pay for the tipping fee, instead of continuing to operate the landfill.
Aside from the environmental hazards, Gualiza said the city spends millions buying equipment just to extend the lifespan of the facility.
Assistant DPS chief and landfill manager Engr. Randy Navarro said the city has appropriated at least P22 million this year for the landfill.
Of the amount, at least P12 million has been set aside for deodorizers to manage the stench of the facility. At least P9 million, on the other hand, will be used for the purchase of limestone that serves as the landfill's soil cover, while P500,000 will pay for repairs of the landfill's equipment.
The P22-million appropriation is on top of the P5 million that has been set aside by the city for renting equipment, such as bulldozer to prevent the 10-meter-high heap of garbage at the landfill from overflowing toward nearby settlements.
Another P5 million budget has been set aside for the rental of heavy equipment, such as bioreactors to process the segregated waste dumped in the facility since the implementation of the City’s "no segregation, no collection" policy began last April.
Last year, the city spent at least P100 million for the landfill. That included its maintenance, repair of heavy equipment and the purchase of limestone to stop the landfill from burning.
With the impending closure of the landfill in October, the SWMB recommended to Mayor Michael Rama to make fully operational eight materials recovery facilities (MRF) sites in the city, aside from appropriating P120,000 per day for the tipping fee.
The MRF's that will be made fully operational are those in barangays Ermita, Talamban, Luz, Mabolo, Apas, Kalunasan, Quiot, and Mambaling.
Aside from that, the SWMB wants scavengers to recycle 58 tons per day of recyclable waste, establish a transfer station and manage plastic wastes through a private partnership, among others.
The SWMB said a closure plan for the landfill will be completed by December 31, 2011. (Sun.Star Cebu)
