MCWM expands landfill capacity in Pampanga

MANILA, Philippines — Waste management firm Metro Clark Waste Management (MCWM) has expanded its landfill facility in Pampanga to serve more areas in Central Luzon.

In a statement, the company said it recently completed a major expansion project at its landfill facility in Clark, Pampanga, which is the country’s first engineered sanitary landfill.

The expansion covered the development of seven more hectares within MCWM’s 100-hectare grounds, to be used for municipal waste disposal, the addition of leachate treatment plants for the proper eradication of waste by-products, and a new separate disposal cell for treated industrial waste.

The company also acquired new vehicles, equipment, and other fixed facilities to increase operational efficiency.

The expansion project will allow the company to provide world-class waste disposal services to more cities, municipalities, and industrial clients in Central Luzon.

“Despite continuing challenges, MCWM is proud to be of service to our clients and their communities. We also hope to widen our coverage as more local government units (LGUs) and industry players look for waste management solutions that are cost-effective, efficient, and strictly compliant with Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act,” MCWM executive vice president and general manager Vicky Gaetos said.

Currently servicing almost 150 LGUs in Central Luzon, and thousands of industrial and commercial locators in the two main economic zones of Clark and Subic, MCWM’s expansion will allow it to dispose of its clients’ waste to the same international standard, and according to global best practices that it has followed for over 20 years.

MCWM said all projections by both local and foreign experts show that the volume of Philippine waste would continue to increase, and already exceeds the total capacity of existing landfills in the country.

The Philippines currently ranks as the top contributor to plastic pollution in the oceans, putting the country among the five largest producers of plastic waste worldwide, as indicated by a global study recently released by the Stockholm Resilience Center.

Out of the 1,656 rivers studied, the Pasig River was also identified as the worst source of plastic waste, contributing 63,000 metric tons of the more than 356,000 metric tons of plastic pollution produced by the Philippines each year.

Plastic waste produced continues to increase at a phenomenal rate, doubling in just over 20 years to 367 million metric tons annually as of 2020.

Gaetos said the company is keen to continue working closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Clark Development Corp. Bases Conversion and Development Authority, and all other stakeholders to “more effectively wage the war against waste.”

“It is our job to monitor these studies and projections, and proactively plan accordingly. The yearly increase in solid waste in the Philippines, while sobering, was expected. While recycling and other trash reduction measures do help and must be done, there’s just so much waste that the only solution is to expand. We made the decision to invest in this expansion even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic because this is in the best interests of our clients, and ultimately, of the communities we serve,” she said.

MCWM is the only sanitary landfill that has consistently secured ISO certifications since 2015 to ensure the safety of the environment they operate in, the health and welfare of their employees, and the satisfaction of their stakeholders.