More queries about Cebu City waste

Have you ever been caught, inside your vehicle, in a busy street beside, in front, or at the back of a garbage truck? Have you not asked then why the garbage trucks are allowed to ply the streets during busy traffic hours?

The public is bothered not only by the stench but by some waste item falling or some liquid dripping from the trucks. Again, the valid question -- with the huge waste budget, can’t the waste collection/disposal system be managed better?

Through the years, the waste budget for Cebu City’s truck/disposal waste management system has progressively increased, at its highest at present at P404M with only P107M (about 26%) left midyear 2021!

Waste continues to be collected, disposed of, transferred from one disposal area to another. No major improvements despite huge budget allocations for this waste management system.

With no review and evaluation as well as transparency and accountability, the city constituents and officials have gotten used to this conventional system.

Until now, that is.

The pandemic has worsened the lives and health of people, communities and the environment. Every peso spent should be more closely scrutinized in favor of people and the communities.

This is not the time to waste millions on waste. Even beyond the pandemic, millions of funds should never ever be wasted at all on waste.

Instead of spending millions for waste, including losing and wasting hectares of productive lands, polluting water sources and aggravating global warming, this is the opportune time, to turn waste management around- to save and earn from, not spend, for waste.

We can start by reviewing the conventional truck-based waste management system -- how it operates and why there is a need for this year’s huge budget.

Can the public request for a review of these following pieces of information shared by an eco-advocate that showed various types of contracts entered into by Cebu City?

For example, in 2019-2020, DPS and barangay trucks would collect and bring the wastes to a transfer station, which a private hauler would bring next to the landfill at P1,298 per ton. Tucked into this System A’s contract price for hauling are the transfer station fee and the tipping fee for the landfill.

System B, another model in 2019-2020, hired private haulers who collected waste from any point of the city and disposed these directly to the landfill, at P2,650 per ton. Tucked into the contract price is the tipping fee for the landfill.

System C allowed DPS and barangay trucks to collect waste from any point in the city and dispose in a landfill, for a tipping fee of P700 per ton!

Please note that System C entailed the least cost and was inclusive, tapping the participation of barangays and the DPS!

All these three systems were employed in the previous years and bid separately.

In 2021, the present integrated system D showed that the Cebu City government hired ONLY ONE private contractor to 1) collect wastes from any point in the city and bring to the landfill, 2) operate a transfer station and bring the wastes brought in by DPS and Barangay trucks to the landfill for a contract price of P1,800 per ton. Tucked into the price are the transfer station fee and the tipping fee for the landfill.

As per landfill records, DPS and barangay trucks combined brought in 2/3 of the volume to the landfill as against the 1/3 volume brought in by the contractor. However, despite this, Cebu City still paid the contractor the same contract price of P1,800 per ton. Why?

Should this system be allowed to continue despite problems regarding contract obligations, an almost depleted midyear 2021 budget and problems for health and the environment?