‘Establish eco-park as alternative for landfill’
Local government units (LGUs) that could not comply with the sanitary landfill requirement as mandated under Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 have an option to establish an ecological park instead.
This was disclosed by Armando Dayrit, the Solid Waste Management Coordinator of the Environmental Management Bureau for Iloilo and Capiz.
Dayrit said there are 10 LGUs in Iloilo that until now operate an open dumpsite. The LGUs, which he did not named, have been given chances to comply otherwise they will be subjected to the three-strike policy of the DENR.
“They were given a chance to have an ecological park, not necessarily a sanitary landfill,” he said.
The option is open to LGUs that fall under category 1 or those that generate daily garbage of less than 15 tons.
The establishment of an eco-park must come with a fence surrounding the dumpsite, signboard, daily soil cover for garbage leachate pond, operational material recovery facility or composting and organized waste pickers.
Meanwhile, under the three-strike policy, a non-compliant LGU will have to face a technical conference after its failure to comply even with three notices from the DENR. Thereafter, the LGU will have to pay the corresponding fine as stipulated in the law.
The DENR in partnership with the province of Iloilo recently awarded LGUs that showed innovation and best practices on solid waste management in line with the recent Solid Waste Management Awareness Week.
The awardees included municipalities of Miag-ao as the over-all winner; New Lucena, second; and Passi City third. They received P25,000; P15,000 and P10,000 as cash prizes, respectively.*PNA
