Iloilo mayor orders MRF in all barangays
All city barangays or cluster of barangays here are enjoined to establish a functional material recovery facility (MRF) in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 9003 known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas issued Memorandum Order 397 on Tuesday to reiterate the establishment of MRF and mandatory solid waste segregation and composting in the barangay or at source to include household, institutional, industrial, commercial and agricultural sources.
The city mayor told the Liga ng mga Barangay district presidents and members of the Solid Waste Management Board that he met with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and DENR Secretary Lito Atienza last week to discuss the MRF provision of RA 9003.
He was told that inspection teams from the DENR and Ombudsman will go around the barangays soon to inspect the MRF and implementation of other environmental laws.
Treñas said the provision on MRF must be followed and the law mandated 25 percent of solid waste must be diverted to reuse, recycle and composting activities. Executive Order 774 issued by the President enjoins all local government units to reduce solid waste generation by 50 percent within the next six months starting January 2009.
Treñas said the city’s garbage collection services will only collect residual waste from designated MRF or pick-up points in the barangays.
This southern city has 180 barangays and only five MRFs are functional out of 28 MRFs already established. Most of the barangays claimed that many buyers are going around buying discarded wastes such as bottles, bottles, papers, cartoons and other non-biodegradable wastes.
Barangay chairmen complained that there is no vacant space available within the barangay and that minimal garbage are realized due to segregation at source. But the city chief executive said that composting and vermiculture can be done in district plazas and pilot barangays. (PNA)