Bayawan City is opening its solid waste management facility to visitors who wish to learn about the city government’s best practices in solid waste management.
“Bayawan is not really very gifted in beaches. So now, we bank on our best practices. A lot of the local government units have visited us already as far as Luzon and Mindanao,” said Bayawan City tourism officer Donna Maturan.
Launched early this month, the Ibayaw tour package covers a day trip to Bayawan City Waste Management & Ecology Center, Danapa Aquaculture Facility, the city’s Local Flood Early Warning System dubbed as “mini-PAGASA,” Gawad Kalinga wastewater facility, and the city government’s Montessori-type pre-school.
The tour’s key attraction is the Waste Management & Ecology Center, which offers visitors a glimpse of the city’s best practice on solid waste management.
Located in upland barangay Maninihon, the 21-hectare center houses the Central Materials Recovery Facility for segregation of waste, a sanitary landfill, a buffer lagoon, and a septic water treatment facility.
In 2022, the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources Region 7 awarded the city government with the Best Solid Waste Disposal Facility Award due to the effective operations of the sanitary landfill inside the BCWMEC.
The award was also given to the City government for demonstrating innovation and ingenuity in solid waste management.
The filtering and pipe design in the facility is the reason why the sanitary landfill is odorless and harmless to human health and in the environment, said Waste Management supervisor Kerwin Martinez.
“Ang mga basa na basura mao nay baho. Kani siya naa ni siya murag catchment sa ubos na naka-slope na ang mga duga niya sa ubos sa cell mosulod siya pipe nato then modiretso na dire sa atong lagoon,” said Martinez.
(The foul odor comes from wet trash. This facility was designed with a slope catchment underneath the ground. All the fluids coming from the garbage will pass in the pipe beneath it and will be carried over to the lagoon.)
Over the years, the sanitary landfill has attracted several representatives from LGUs and national government agencies from the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Negros Occidental during their benchmark studies on waste management.
Martinez also shared that nine other LGUs here including the provincial government and two private corporations have signed a memorandum of agreement with Bayawan City for the management of their solid waste.
The Bayawan Waste Management & Ecology Center charges them with a tipping fee worth P1,000 per ton of garbage, generating an additional income for the City. (Roi Lomotan/PIA)
