Baguio City faces garbage challenge

INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON
Inquirer Northern Luzon : Baguio City faces garbage challenge
By Maurice Malanes
Philippine Daily Inquirer Inquirer Northern Luzon
Posted date: November 25, 2009

WHEN MONEYSENSE, an independent online publication, published in April last year the “best places to live in the Philippines,” Baguio City, despite its summer capital fame, was not in the top 10. It ranked 16th.

The publication listed Bacolod City as the best place to live in the country, followed by Makati, Davao, Marikina, Iloilo, Las Piñas, Pasig, San Fernando (La Union), Mandaluyong and Quezon City.

MoneySense based its ranking mainly on the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP) of the Asian Institute of Management. The ranking considered three components: standard of living, quality of life and cost of living.

Of the three components, quality of life covered, among other things, “environment” and this included “clean air and clean streets.”

A review of the solid waste management systems of Bacolod and other top-ranking cities is revealing. They all have their waste management systems in place.
Baguio residents, on the other hand, have to bear with tons of garbage, much of which have been left uncollected for several weeks now.

The crisis began to be felt in October 2007 when officials realized that the open dump in Barangay Irisan was already full and that the city had to look for long-term measures, such as building an engineered sanitary landfill.

Baguio residents would envy how wastes are managed in Bacolod. The department of public service (DPS) there collects garbage thrice daily—at noon, 7 p.m. and 2 a.m.
A resident with uncollected trash can still call the DPS office and it immediately responds in minutes.

The same is true in Marikina, one of the most frequented venues for educational trips of local governments wanting to learn about solid waste management.

Although still reeling from the heaps of wastes from September’s Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” Marikina’s garbage collection has not been disrupted.

In 2002, a government performance audit team gave Marikina flying colors for its solid waste collection system.

It said the city had “well-defined systems and procedures” in managing its wastes. This was strengthened by “employing enforcers to implement ordinances on the maintenance of physical cleanliness and sanitation, instilling discipline and compelling community participation.”

Not far from Baguio is San Fernando in La Union, which inaugurated in December 2008 a P168-million landfill after starting construction in 2005.

The World Bank, which funded the project, said the 10.7-hectare facility was a model for small landfills.

Institutionalization

Bacolod, Marikina and San Fernando all have ordinances to support Republic Act No. 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000). But they all have graduated from the information and education campaign (IEC) stage and have since buckled down to work to implement their ordinances and policies on waste management.

Their programs have become institutionalized as part of the communities’ way of life.
Every Monday and Thursday in Marikina, green-painted trucks collect biodegradable wastes, which households must properly label and tie with something green.

Every Wednesday, pink-colored trucks also collect nonbiodegradables, which households must tie with something pink. Improperly labeled wastes won’t be collected.

Biodegradable wastes are composted for fertilizer. The nonbiodegradables are taken to a materials recovery facility (MRF) for segregation. Plastics and bottles are taken to a “buy-back center.”

Policy implementation is such a serious business that the city government allocates the funds and resources to make policies work.

Marikina is also so concerned about its solid waste management efficiency that it has installed a mechanism by which residents can give feedback, complaints and requests.

For its part, San Fernando uses different and labeled waste segregation receptacles for different types of garbage.

It has well-established village-based MRFs, where wastes are segregated. One of these is in Lingsat village, which was given a national award for its efficient solid waste management in 2004.

Schools have also established solid waste management systems.

As continuing support to the villages, the city government regularly trains village officials on Waste Analysis and Characterization Survey (WACS) to help local officials determine the total weight and volume of waste disposed of daily. Data from the survey guide local officials in making and implementing policies.

The city government continues to train village officials on how to make ordinances and solid waste plans, and how to compute garbage fees, organize management teams, and monitor and evaluate projects and programs on wastes.

In contrast, Baguio Councilor Fred Bagbagen said the council had filed resolutions directing the city government to focus on developing an ecological landfill and MRFs. None of these, he said, took off.

Hope for Baguio

Amid public ire and warnings from the health department about possible diseases from uncollected garbage, Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. recently ordered the collection of garbage in villages.

The garbage would be disposed of at the already full Irisan dump. From there, it will be hauled to a landfill in Capas, Tarlac, after the city council allotted P25 million for this.

Bautista said he would invoke the city’s right over the whole 7.5 hectares occupied by the dump, noting that 2.5 hectares of it were being occupied by squatters.
If reclaimed, he said the dump could still accommodate the city’s garbage, estimated at 300 tons daily, while long-term measures are being sought.

But a more strategic solution may yet lie in neighboring Sablan town, also in Benguet.

At least 11 owners have offered to sell a 228,231-square-meter (22.82-hectare) lot for Baguio’s engineered sanitary landfill. The proposed landfill can be used for 50 to 60 years.

“With proper push and determination, negotiation and all the nitty-gritty for the proposed landfill can be done in a month,” said Julius Mandapat, a civil engineer who helped build engineered sanitary landfills, dikes, parks and an airport in the United States in the 1980s.

Mandapat said solid waste management must be part of short-term and strategic urban planning.

“The challenge is how to make urban planning respond to the needs of a growing city and this needs a mix of technical expertise and political will,” he said.