Separate waste management office pushed

CEBU, Philippines - Talisay City Councilor Antonio Bacaltos Jr. is pushing for the creation of the Waste Management Office as new department to ensure the proper implementation of the city's waste management programs exclusively.

Bacaltos, who is the chairman of the Committee on Environment, said the Waste Management Office will dedicate its efforts in addressing the various concerns related to the city's solid waste management.

"Due to the increasingly challenging waste management demands, there is a need for a proactive approach as these call for new processes, structures, competencies and work ethics among the stakeholders, thus the need to create the City Waste Management Office," Bacaltos said in his proposed ordinance No. 2015-32-1, which was already approved on the first reading at the City Council.

According to Bacaltos, the new department will help address the problem of garbage, especially on the waste segregation, collection, recycling, and disposal of solid waste materials, and how these materials are dealt at the sanitary landfill and the proper treatment and disposal of sewage and septage.

If the ordinance will become a law, the office will be composed of a department head, administrative officer, engineers (sanitation and building), pollution officer, health/safety officer, information, education and communication (IEC) officer and clerks.

It will also have its own divisions such as Ecological Solid Waste Management Division; Sanitary Landfill Division and Septage Management System Division.

Currently, the Solid Waste Management Office is under the Office of the Mayor, which is handled by Edwin Nierves, who supervises and coordinates concerned activities and oversees garbage collection activities in Talisay.  (FREEMAN)