BENGUET

‘Salad bowl of the north’ opens landfill dumpsite
BY SUSAN C. ARO

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The sanitary landfill of this town located in barangay Alno will be gradually opened pending a memorandum of agreement between the barangay and this town’s local government unit to make the “Salad bowl of the north” cleaner.

Governor elect Nestor Fongwan said the sanitary landfill will be gradually opened while the open dump site in Wangal will be gradually closed.

The P60 million solid waste management facility sourced out from local funds is in line with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law otherwise known as Republic Act 9003 mandating local government units to establish its own solid waste management system.

Fongwan, former La Trinidad mayor said even before enactment of the law, as early as 1994, the LGU started conceptualizing a comprehensive ecological solid waste management system.

The facility includes a sanitary landfill, material recovery facility, leachate pond, and bio-reactor equipment for composting.

Although it took years to materialize, Fongwan said this was an orchestrated effort of the community, stakeholders such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National Economic and Development Authority, Benguet State University, barangay and municipal officials.

Another vital component of the program was to train people who will operate the facility Fongwan said.

He urged constituents to segregate biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes and if possible to recycle and sell non-biodegradable wastes to lessen the bulk of wastes that will go into the facility thereby increasing its life. He stressed the need for information campaign as one of the vital component.

The mayor said the people should be reminded daily on the importance of waste segregation.

Fongwan said the municipal government could no longer accommodate the bulk of vegetable waste in the La Trinidad Trading Post.

The traders and farmers are being encouraged to do their own composting. Vegetable wastes reportedly accrue a daily average of 30 tons per day to a high of 60 tons per day during peak season.