Calbayog City legislators push approval and

implementation of the new solid waste management

CALBAYOG CITY – While the Sanggunian is working on the immediate approval and implementation of
the Comprehensive and Integrated Solid Waste Management System of the City, the first batch of “Trainors’ Training
on Waste Analysis and Characterization Survey” (WACS) was conducted on April 6, 2011 at the Sports Center.

Since the law mandates that the segregation and collection of solid wastes (specifically biodegradable,
compostable and reusable wastes) shall be conducted at the barangay level, and the non-recyclable materials and
special wastes shall be the obligation of the city through its private garbage collector; the Solid Waste and
Management Office (SWMO) required the barangay officials or its representatives to undergo WACS training.

From among the 22 service areas, the city has an existing 8 Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) that are
operational – receive, separate, and prepare recyclable materials for marketing to end-user manufacturers.

On the other hand, WACS is the process to determine the total weight and volume of wastes and verify the
composition of waste materials being disposed per day, assess the actual value of the 30% required diversion and
identifies the kind of waste for diversion from the disposal facility.

According to 2006 study on Characterization and Quantification of Residuals from Material Recovery
Facilities, the purpose of the material recovery facilities (MRF) residual characterization was to obtain a complete
picture of the disposal and recovery potential for MRF residuals in order to allow evaluation of potentially applicable
recovery strategies including processing and conversion technologies.

CSWM Chair Ronald P. Aquino said that in the new solid waste management system, the city will implement
color coded and numbered sacks, impose schedules of bulky garden wastes collection, no use of plastic bags and
will enforce stricter penalties for non-compliant or violators.

He warned the people not to burn household garbage like recyclable items, yard or garden wastes. Said
human activities are contributing to global warming by adding excessive amounts of greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere; Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide accumulate in the atmosphere and trap heat that normally
would exit into outer space, he added.

He also said that dumping of garbage in non-designated areas and pick-up points are also prohibited as it
becomes a breeding ground for disease causing organisms.

Vice-Mayor Aquino believed that achieving a hundred percent compliance involves a laborious task
considering that Calbayog is composed of 157 barangays and considered the third largest city in the Philippines. But
as head or architects of their respective territories, it needs good strategy.

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, he said. He encouraged the people to begin with a single step and rectify
previous mistakes.

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Sagay City Mayor Alfredo G. Marañon, Jr., Mayor Mel Senen S. Sarmiento, JICA Resident
Representative Shozoo Matsuura, DENR Usec Demetrio L. Ignacio, Jr., National Solid Waste
Management Commission Executive Director Atty. Zoilo L. Anden, Jr., JICA Philipppines Minnie M.
Dacanay and Makoto Iwase.
(Here's a report provided to me by Ike Macasa of the Samar Sunday Star)

Calbayog City - A Suitable Ecological Solid Waste Management System will soon be established here along
with Sagay and Davao cities chosen by the Japanese government as high priority cities in the country.

Calbayog's Solid Waste Management Office Chief Engr. Gonzaga recently announced in a press
conference that on the third or fourth quarter of this year, the Technical Cooperating Project Team is set
to conduct a technical study and planning which, at the same time, signals the start of the project.
Gonzaga said Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) Project Agreement was signed early this
year. The signing was made at the DENR conference room. (please see pictures above)

Based on the document furnished by the CSWMO Chief, approximately 25 million pesos is allocated for
the project depending on the output of the project technical study group and the target duration is three
years.

As reflected in the Master Plan, the study is geared to strengthen the capability of the LGU on solid waste
management planning, to improve the solid waste diversion system and the final disposal system.

The assistance will cover feasibility study on Solid Waste Management including preliminary design and
technical study, formulation of master plan, capability building for the executing organization, solid waste
management monitoring, computerization, weigh bridge, design of sanitary landfill, guidance and
training on sanitary landfill method and operation and supervision of sanitary landfill construction work.

It was explained during JICA’s visit here that the cost of construction of the sanitary landfill shall be borne
by the LGU and the financial scheme that will be adopted to finance the construction of the facility should
be a two-step loan facility of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) under a soft loan.

The LGU will likewise provide, secure or purchase the landfill site that should be suitable in accordance
with the site selection requirement criteria of RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of
2000 which prohibits the operation of open dumpsites for the disposal of solid wastes.

JICA has already conducted ocular inspections of the present dumpsite and the proposed sanitary landfill.

The results of the waste amount and characterization survey conducted by JICA’s
consultants last January 2007 here revealed that the city generates a total of 93.611 tons of
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) daily comprising 69,237kgs of residential waste, 2,112kgs
commercial waste from restaurants, 18,470kgs commercial wastes from other shops,
53kgs institutional waste from government offices, 1,757kgs from schools, 198kgs from
roads with street sweeping activities only and 1,784kgs from the market stalls.

The study also revealed the three categories of waste composition with high percentages
are the kitchen waste with 22.76 per cent, followed by yard waste or wood with 21.77 per
cent, and paper with 15.73 per cent.
“In our latest waste characterization conducted by the JICA’s contractor , almost 12 per cent guihapon an
special waste. An special waste an basura nga di na nagagamitan asya na unta iton an basura an
maulpot sa dumpsite. An tinatawag nga waste diversion nga kon pwede kunta nga in household
level sa generation pala mag-iban na an basura. Sa pagpalit ta pala we have to take it a point nga an
aton napapalit diri magiging basura naton unina…that’s reduction,” the CSMO chief said.

“We have 3 Rs --reduce, re-use and recycle. Mahimo ngani iton san aton mga household level, ma-
reduce an basura nga mahingadto sa aton dumpsite,” he added.

As of now, garbage collection in the city is being done by a private contractor taking garbage from the
residents during designated collection period for each area.

Gonzaga further said that section 27 of the law on waste diversion requires LGUs to reduce
garbage at 25 per cent only three years after the approval of RA 9003 but the city had, so
far, obtained 32 per cent reduction rate. He added that the garbage problem is not the sole
responsibility of the government but is also everybody’s concern.

In 1993 the city was named as the cleanest in the region and one of the top finalists in the national level.
Its two barangays also received awards. Brgy. Panoypoy was a National Silver Awardee in 2003-
4004 Search for Model Barangay under the Solid Waste Management category by the National Solid
Waste Management Commission while Brgy. Manguinoo won a Special Citation for Multiple
Materials Recovery Facility and Coastal Clean-up Practices.

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