ILOILO City – The scale of garbage left behind by New Year celebrations has again underscored Iloilo City’s waste management challenge, after nearly 30 metric tons of trash were hauled from major markets and public spaces in just one day.
According to the city government’s General Services Office (GSO), the bulk of the waste was collected on Thursday, January 1, as city crews raced against time to clear roads, markets, and plazas clogged by debris from holiday revelries.
More than 200 street sweepers were deployed in key districts, particularly City Proper and Jaro, to restore normal conditions hours after the celebrations ended.
“We mobilized street sweepers immediately after New Year to make sure the major roads, markets, and public areas were cleared as early as possible,” GSO head Engineer Neil Ravena said in an interview.
Most of the garbage came from major trading hubs, including the newly-rehabilitated Iloilo Terminal Market and Jaro Big Market, where spoiled and unsold fruits and vegetables piled up alongside fruit boxes, packaging trays, bamboo poles used for makeshift stalls, and other market refuse.
Nearby public plazas were also covered by the cleanup operations.
Ravena said the volume of waste was worsened by the seasonal glut of perishable goods.
“One of the issues we observed is the oversupply of fruits during the holidays. If these are not sold, they end up as waste,” he said.
In response, the city government plans to convene concerned offices and market authorities to tighten coordination and reinforce accountability among vendors.
“We should meet and coordinate with the other offices so we can discuss the problems we identified. Vendors should be responsible in disposing their wastes. They should agree on where the designated collection points are and ensure that all garbage is brought there,” Ravena said.
Cleanup operations were completed by around 9 a.m. on January 1, allowing affected areas to resume normal activity.
The GSO renewed its call on vendors and the public to practice proper waste disposal, particularly during major celebrations, warning that unchecked holiday waste continues to strain the city’s cleanup resources./PN
