Cebu City reportedly spends P2M to dispose of collected waste to the landfill in Aloguinsan, about 62 km away.
To bring its total daily 700 tons of collected waste to Aloguinsan, Cebu City pays about P3,906 per ton or an estimated P2M daily.
This is huge compared to the P1,100 per ton paid to dispose its garbage to Binaliw Landfill which remains closed to Cebu City collected waste since the January 8 landslide tragedy.
Note that the P2M is spent daily for waste disposal alone. The higher the waste volume collected, transported, the more Cebu City will need to pay.
If, however, the waste volume is less/reduced/segregated, Cebu City will pay less daily.
It’s important for Cebu City to review its present waste management solution to its waste problem/emergency, starting from a consensus of what the problem is and most especially, its cause/s.
What’s the present/continuing waste problem/emergency? Are these the waste problems – waste volume, collection, disposal, cost, and lack of a closer disposal site?
Looking more closely, the above-mentioned are problems present with waste that have already been generated and accumulated.
If there are no/less wastes generated/thrown, there will be no need to collect/dispose any waste, right?
Shouldn’t the solution to the waste problem/emergency start from its source/cause?
Generated/accumulated garbage/waste come from human/domestic/commercial/ industrial/agricultural/healthcare/construction/demolition sources.
Generated garbage is also unsegregated by type, another source of the waste problem.
Hence, simply put, Cebu City’s waste problem is clearly caused by various waste generators, those who generate/throw wastes of various types, without segregation.
Waste generators, waste generation and segregation or non-segregation, therefore, should be part of the solution for the city’s present/continuing waste problem/emergency.
Cebu City’s waste problem/emergency should not be anchored on the city’s conventional paradigm for waste management- focused on truck-based collection and disposal only.
If this mainstream, conventional waste management paradigm persists, then expect Cebu City waste problem and budget to continue and increase!
This waste management paradigm continued by past/present Cebu City government IS part of the problem since it ignores or neglects the more important cause of the waste problem –waste generators and generation of unsegregated waste.
If the waste budget of Cebu City will be reviewed and evaluated, it will not be surprising to note the absence/lack of any committed funds addressed to waste generators, waste generation and segregation.
Cebu City’s waste problem/emergency will therefore continue, as past decades have confirmed, unless Cebu City addresses, commits attention and resources to waste generators, waste generation and waste segregation (including waste avoidance, reduction, recycling and other Rs).
The council has demanded for Mayor Archival to present his WM road map to resolve the waste problem/emergency.
If the council will only review RA 9003, the WM road map has already been specified by this law since 2001- participative, inclusive waste management from generators, organizational mechanisms from barangays to all levels of government, required MRFs, no collection-no segregation policies, fees/penalties and so on.
The road map has been there since 2001, but COMPLIANCE, STRICT IMPLEMENTATION, POLITICAL WILL absent since 2001 till now.
Had these been present, Cebu City would not have to spend more than ?600 million annually for waste collection/disposal/emergency.
Is the Cebu City government ready to include waste reduction, avoidance, recycling and the waste generators/generation as part of the problem and solution?
For a trial period of at least 6 months, can it allow for a portion of the present daily ?2M disposal fees to be used as incentives for waste segregators/segregation/reduction in barangays?
If waste is segregated, reduced, recycled/reused instead per barangay, total waste volume for disposal to Aloguinsan will be less.
During the trial period, barangay constituents to be tapped for barangay waste segregation with diverted funds from Aloguinsan dispoal will have daily food/steady livelihood, thanks to CC officials!