Solving Baguio City trash the Payatas way

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – The successful conversion of the 12-hectare Payatas open dumpsite into the so-called Quezon City controlled dump facility is a worthy project which the Baguio City government should emulate relative to the closure of its 5.2-hectare Irisan dumpsite.

This was the assessment of a 12-man media group, which included this writer, after the conduct of an exposure trip to the alternative energy projects of the United States Agency for International Development – Sustainable Energy Development Project (USAID-SEDP) in Laguna and Quezon City.

Unlike the weak stand of city officials in handling the city’s garbage problem, the media group found out Quezon City officials had the political will in closing the operation of the dumpsite after the tragic garbage collapse on July 10, 2000 and again re-opened the open dumpsite for its conversion into a controlled dump facility which is now being used by the local government as its dumpsite.

Engr. Luis Sabater, maintenance official of the Payatas controlled dumpsite, informed Baguio-based mediamen over 2,000 scavengers are benefitting from the operation of the controlled dumpsite plus the fact that it is able to produce at least 200 kilowatts of power from the methane gas produced by the garbage which is used to light up streetlights around the dumpsite.

According to him, Quezon City officials first organized the residents around the facility into 12 associations who are now enjoying the benefits of added income as a result of the conversion of the dumpsite into a controlled dump facility before they incorporated the plan of the local government to re-open the dumpsite with the people as their active partners.

In contrast, the Baguio City government’s plan to temporarily use the Irisan dumpsite while awaiting the establishment of its own engineered sanitary landfill facility was strongly opposed by the affected residents who even barricaded the entrance of the dumpsite preventing garbage trucks from dumping the city’s waste there.

If intelligently handled by concerned local officials and department heads, Baguio should have been able to handle the current garbage crisis coupled with the fact that it could also be generating minimal power from the waste being dumped in the dumpsite for the benefit of the people around the facility.

Quezon City generates at least 1,700 tons of garbage daily with 1,200 tons being dumped at its Payatas controlled dump facility while Baguio City generates at least 280 tons of garbage daily with 90 percent of which is being hauled to the Capas, Tarlac sanitary landfill.

Various city officials have reportedly visited the successful Quezon City controlled disposal facility over the past several years but it seems they are not able to come out with an idea on how to emulate the same at the Irisan dumpsite to end the garbage woes of the people who are already sick and tired of the worsening problem.

The city government has already spent at least P100 million to temporarily solve the garbage problem in Baguio but the problem on where to permanently dump the waste continues to be a major headache of local officials.