Benguet opens P50-M dump site

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government here completed the construction of a P50-million controlled dump facility in Barangay Alno, here, to satisfactorily comply with the provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

The town completed the solid waste dump facility way ahead of neighboring Baguio City, one of the urban centers in the country suffering from serious problems on how to work out the establishment of its own sanitary landfill to solve its worsening garbage problem.

La Trinidad’s controlled dump facility will service the solid waste disposal needs of the 16 barangays of the town which is a giant step towards complying with the lawful provisions on solid waste management.

Mayor Artemio Galwan said the local government will now strictly enforce the segregation of wastes at source so that only residuals will be accommodated in the facility so that it could be able to last for a longer period of time.

Records showed preparations for the town’s sanitary landfill started in 2001 envisioned by previous local officials to address solid waste disposal problems because of the increase in population.

Initially, the local government took the initiative of acquiring facilities for the project over the past several years before the construction of the controlled dump facility into full swing after Malacañang granted over P5 million in financial assistance for the realization of the environment-friendly project. – Dexter A. See