ENVIRONMENT UPDATES
Daniel B. Codamon
KIANGAN,
Ifugao -- This municipality proved anew that it is
the leading implementer of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste
Management (ESWM) law in the province with the safe closure and rehabilitation
of its disposal facility.
The rehabilitated waste disposal facility is
located at the municipal government-owned property at the Barangay Pindongan
covering an area of 489 square meters.
It was used by the town as an open dumpsite
from 2000 until 2014.
The type of waste dumped in the disposal
facility included 48.29 percent biodegradables, 48.84% non-biodegradables and
2.87% of hazardous or bio-hazardous waste.
The daily volume of disposed waste of .367
tons brought out issues and concerns from the populace about pollution of
nearby water bodies, contamination of nearby potable water sources, adverse
effect on nearby agricultural lands and the hazardous waste being dumped.
The open dumpsite already accumulated so much
volume of garbage so the municipal government decided to close it on August 15,
2014 to pave the way for its rehabilitation into a mini-Sanitary Land Fill
(SLF).
The rehabilitation of the waste disposal
facility is now completed and what a transformation!
The SLF has a retaining wall below the
dumpsite so as not to affect the agricultural lands within its vicinity. It
also has a drainage canal excavated to prevent run-off water. The rehabilitation
works included the compaction and stabilization of elevated soil, sand, exposed
waste and rice hauls are now being used as cover material hence there is no
more odor noted in the area. A gas vent was also installed for gas management
of the facility.
The creeks beside the dumpsite were cleaned
of weeds and planted with flower shrubs. Waste pickers and squatters are
strictly prohibited at the disposal facility.
The municipal government has also adapted an
overall strategy of solid waste management which is one of efficiency regarding
biodegradable, residual, recyclable and special wastes.
The town is strictly implementing waste
segregation by households, Unsegregated wastes are not collected, and there is
no collection for biodegradable wastes as these should be composed at
home.
Municipal ESWM program coordinator Ernesto
Baglan said the municipal government has submitted the report of
the safe closure and rehabilitation of said facility to Department of
Environment and Natural Resources in compliance to RA 9003 which is
being closely monitored by the DENR as part of a strategy to counter the impact
of climate change.
No comments:
Post a Comment