The Dr. Jovito Salong Center for Law and Development of Silliman University and the College of Law held another round table discussion on Solid Waste Management last June 14, 2012 at the Salonga Conference Room specifically on the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) compliance of the City of Dumaguete.
The discourse was intended to look into not only on the establishment of sanitary landfill but all on the establishment of MRFs in various barangays and how to go about it, as an initial step in solving the waste disposal problem of the city.
City Administrator William Ablong shared his thoughts on how the city goes about the issue on sanitary landfill and MRFs. He said the City is for the establishment of sanitary landfill, however it faces difficulties in looking for a site, as it requires a lot of consultation, appropriation of funds, among other factors to consider. What they are targeting right now is on the mechanism of compelling the barangays to take care of their respective pollution by having their own material composting facility.
Atty. Mikhail Maxino and Atty. Manuel Arbon shared the same sentiment that what the city plans to do is only an immediate or short-term plan. Both lawyers see the need to put up a long term plan, which is the establishment of a sanitary landfill or use other alternative technology that will eradicate or minimize the problem on waste disposal. Another issue that was brought up in the discussion was on waste segregation.
A representative of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources, Lloyd F. Patrimonio, said there should be proper waste characterization in every barangay, which could be used as their basis for the design of the MRFs.
Moreover, ABC President and Bantayan Brgy Capt. Albert C. Aquino talked about the importance of segregating our garbage and how it should start in every household. He further added that the system on garbage collection should be made clearer and fixed by the city as it caused confusion with their barangay.
The group promulgated four action plans: conduct a workshop on waste streaming (industry analysis), identifying the waste sectors involved, generators, and users; conduct a workshop on waste segregation with the 22 barangays, excluding the poblacion areas; intensify efforts to locate a viable landfill site for Metro Dumaguete; explore alternatives to landfill for solid waste management.
