March 29, 2024

Baguio City will save P33.8 million in garbage expenses this year if it goes back to hauling its wastes to Urdaneta, Pangasinan.
The projected savings is seen to be realized once the operation of the engineered sanitary landfill (ESL) in Urdaneta resumes.
The Urdaneta ESL was ordered closed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and was rehabilitated by the Metro Clark Waste Management, which will now manage the facility.
General Services Officer Eugene Buyucan said the city will realize a savings of P33.8M if it goes back to hauling Baguio’s garbage to the Urdaneta ESL, which is closer by 100 kilometers than the Metro Clark ESL in Tarlac.
Buyucan said the cost of hauling Baguio’s waste to the Tarlac ESL is P141,335,300 yearly for the 190 tons of garbage delivered to the facility daily. Metro Clark is billing the city P2,038 per ton or P387,220 daily.
At the Urdaneta ESL, he said the city government will spend P96,188,450 a year for hauling and tipping costs at P1,387 per ton of wastes or P263,530 daily.
With this year’s budget of P130M for garbage hauling, Buyucan said the city will realize a savings of P33,811,550 if it will transfer to the nearer waste disposal facility in Urdaneta.
He said he was informed by Metro Clark officials the rehabilitated Urdaneta ESL will resume operations this month.
Buyucan appeared before the city council on Jan. 26 to update the body on the GSO’s initiatives to reduce the expenses incurred in hauling garbage.
Transferring to a nearer disposal facility is one of the measures seen by the GSO to reduce the cost of garbage hauling.
Buyucan said installation of mechanized materials recovery facilities will also help reduce the volume of wastes delivered to the city’s temporary staging area at Barangay Dontogan.
While the city government is looking for a more permanent solution to the city’s garbage concerns, GSO is also intensifying the information, education, and communication campaign on the reduce, reuse, recycle strategies of solid waste management.
The establishment of a waste-to-energy technology that will process biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes is also among the measures seen to provide a long-term solution to the city’s woes.
Buyucan said while the city government has been accommodating several groups that present the benefits of waste-to-energy technologies, not one of them submitted proposals the city can use as basis in pursuing waste-to-energy projects.
The city government is also studying the possibility of outsourcing the city’s garbage collection.
Amidst the several initiatives being pursued to address the city’s garbage woes, Buyucan said the most practical is to pursue the plan to establish the ESL at Sto. Tomas Proper. – Jane B. Cadalig