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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – How many barangays in this city have materials recovery facilities (MRFs)?
These are solid waste transfer stations or drop-off centers were the sorting, composting or recycling of garbage may be done.
The city government has been promoting segregation at source since the administration of then mayor Jerry Treñas (now congressman), said General Services Office (GSO) chief Joren Sartorio, but “kulang gid sa education ang aton pumoluyo on how to go about this.”
The city government mulls tapping junkshops to address the problem on the non-segregation of garbage – a prevalent practice that violates the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Under the law, barangays are supposed to have MRFs. Sartorio agreed with the observation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 6 that there’s a failure in the segregation of solid wastes most especially in the level of households.
“Ang gakatabo nagatambak ang basura sa dalanon naton. Naging failure in effect,” he said.
Section 21 of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act made mandatory the segregation of wastes – recyclable, non-recyclable, biodegradable, non-biodegradable – at the point of origin such as households, institutions, commercial establishments, industries and farms.
If barangays do not have MRFs, junkshops may be a good alternative, according to Sartorio.
“Kwaon nila kag i-segregate ang mga basura nga recyclable so that residual na lang ang maabot sa landfill,” he told Panay News.
During a meeting with city government officials last week, DENR Region 6 director Jim Sampulna urged the city government to come up with a stricter policy on garbage collection.
“There should be no collection if the wastes are not properly segregated,” he stressed.
The city government has tapped a private hauler to regularly collect the city’s garbage and bring this to the city’s dumpsite in Barangay Calajunan, Mandurriao district.
Under the proposed junkshop scheme, barangays will be clustered according to the areas of operation of junkshops that will qualify under the guidelines of the DENR, said Sartorio.
“We need to teach households how to properly segregate waste. We believe that segregation-at-source is the best way to clean our environment,” said Sampulna.
According to Sartorio, the city government has been pushing for every barangay to have an MRF. While the city government provides the dumpsite and the garbage collection equipment, barangays remain as frontliners in garbage collection and disposal, he stressed.
The city has 180 barangays. Sartorio did not give figures on how many barangays have and do not have MRFs.
“With MRF, there will be segregation sang mga recyclables – biodegrable and non-biodegrable,” said Sartorio.
The proposed tapping of junkshops to address DENR’s concern would be presented to the city’s Solid Waste Management Board this Friday.
“I will also recommend that this be submitted to the Sangguniang Panlungsod for adoption and approval para maging policy sang aton syudad when it comes to the operation of junkshops,” said Sartorio.
He hoped the proposal would become a policy and immediately enforced.
“We may not be certain of 100 percent compliance but bisan paano we can have significant improvement sang aton ginakolekta nga basura,” said Sartorio./PN
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