MMDA negotiating more access to Clark landfill

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — With the law banning open dumpsites nationwide, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is negotiating more access to the state-of-the-art, 100-hectare sanitary landfill of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) in Capas, Tarlac.

The sanitary landfill in Barangay Kalangitan, Capas town regularly takes in some 700 tons of wastes daily from Metro Manila, but negotiations are underway to increase the volume, Juan Miguel Fuentes, manager of the CDC’s environment department, told The STAR yesterday.

"But the management of the landfill project cannot agree on increasing the waste volume from the metropolis at the same rate of P600 per ton. It’s a losing rate we started with," he said.

According to reports, some cities in Metro Manila spend as much as P3,500 per ton to dispose of their wastes in open dumpsites elsewhere.

The CDC signed the contract, covering a period of one and a half years, with the MMDA in March 2004.

"The contract has expired so negotiations are ongoing even while wastes from Metro Manila continue to be processed at the landfill," Fuentes said.

He said the contract provides for only 500 tons of wastes, although this was increased to 700 tons daily.

Studies conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency show that Metro Manila produces at least 6,000 tons of wastes daily.

Fuentes, however, cited other studies showing that the actual volume of wastes in the metropolis could even reach 9,000 tons per day.

The P250-million sanitary landfill in Capas is a joint undertaking of the CDC and the German companies of Ingenieurburo Birkhan Nolte and Heers & Brockstedt GmbH & Co. It started operations in 2002.

Experts described the sanitary landfill as "the only one of its kind" in the country.

It is being expanded to accommodate an electric generator powered by gas emitted by the wastes. 

Of the landfill’s 100 hectares, some 70 hectares were dug up and lined with thick plastic materials to accommodate segregated wastes which are covered with soil.

Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, bans open dumpsites and espouses waste recycling.

It was supposed to have taken effect last February, but most local governments across the country still resort to open dumpsites for lack of an alternative.

In the case of Metro Manila, the use of the dumpsites in San Mateo, Rizal and Payatas, Quezon City was extended due to the lack of sanitary landfills.

Fuentes said the Clark landfill has been losing from the P600 per ton rate since its requirement to break even is 3,000 tons per day.

"We can bear with the same rate for Metro Manila for a while, but we cannot increase the volume of wastes at such a rate," he said.

As host to the landfill, the Tarlac provincial government is entitled to a percentage of the income from the landfill.

Tarlac City has been given a special rate of P400 per ton for its wastes, while no fee has been imposed on wastes from the Tarlac towns of Concepcion, Bamban and Capas, Fuentes said.

"But the landfill is earning from wastes from establishments at Clark (which pay a) fee of P1,200 per ton," he said.

"Before the landfill (became operational), wastes at Clark (were disposed of in) an open dumpsite in Barangay Cauayan in Angeles City where the fee was only P56 per ton. So when the landfill opened with the rate of P1,200 per ton, so many complained but eventually accepted the benefits of the sanitary landfill," he said.

Fuentes said establishments at Clark have learned to recycle wastes to save on waste disposal cost.

The Clark Investors and Locators Association is selling special plastic bags for P3 each for the use of establishments at the economic zone.

"Only garbage sealed in the bag could be collected for transport to the landfill," Fuentes said.