City Hall assures no raw garbage dump in Guba

CEBU, Philippines -  Cebu City officials have assured the residents of Barangay Guba that their water source will not be contaminated by the dumping of pre-processed wastes for composting in the city-owned lots in sitio Catibes.

Engr. Randy Navarro, head of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfil, said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had given the city government the go signal to make a composting of pre-processed wastes.

Regional Solid Waste Management Coordinator Amancio S. Dongcoy of the Environmental Management Bureau admitted he allowed the city but only the partially decomposed biodegradable wastes which do not necessarily cause hazard to the environment.

Dongcoy said the city was supposed to dump only the semi processed wastes and not the raw ones, which triggered complaints from the residents. According to Dongcoy, a miscommunication occurred between him and the city government.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama however said that it is not true that they have dumped raw garbage in Guba.

He said only the pre-processed waste or those shredded biodegradable wastes that have already passed the bio-reactors were brought to Guba.

Rama yesterday asked the public to report to him if there will be raw garbage that will be brought to Guba.

Dongcoy said that what he allowed the city to bring to Guba are the partially decomposed biodegradable wastes which do not necessarily cause hazard to the environment.

These partially decomposed biodegradable wastes are those that have been processed at the bio reactor for eight hours and will need only a week or two to mature to a pure compost material. Compost materials are not at all stinky and are actually a good organic fertilizer.

Dongcoy said that even the partially-decomposed biodegradable wastes do not emit foul odor that can cause nuisance to the residents living nearby. It also does not contaminate the water resources.

The 18-hecatare of the 27-hectare lot of the city government in Guba was recommended as a compost site because not all processed biodegradable wastes can be accommodated at the landfill. (FREEMAN)