Scrambling to head off a garbage crisis

Floodwaters have barely subsided in the eastern part of the metropolis and nearby localities but a garbage crisis already waits around the corner.

Neighbor cities Marikina and Pasig and towns of Rizal are rushing clean-up drives after typhoon Ondoy’s onslaught although collection could hardly cope with the daily production of solid waste which continued to pile up since Saturday on sidewalks and vacant lots if not dumped in waterways.

Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III said repair teams have been fielded to ensure access to the landfill in Rodriguez, a major dump of Metro Manila and its estimated daily waste output of 8,000 cubic meters.

“Clearing of roads was immediately conducted knowing the bulk of garbage brought about by Ondoy.”

Ynares said snags in collection and delivery usually compounded the problem of flooding especially during typhoons which posed health threats through possible outbreaks of water-borne diseases.

“Lives are given priority by the local government, but I also appeal to the contracted garbage collectors to start moving.”

Pasig Mayor Roberto Eusebio said about 20 percent of the city was still submerged, the hardest hit being Pinagbuhatan which adjoins low-lying sections of Cainta, Taytay and Taguig, bordering the Laguna lake and along the mouth of the Pasig River.

Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando said the city had its hands full attending to evacuees at rescue centers without having to sacrifice tidying up the surroundings.

“Cleaning up is being done first before disposing of the garbage in San Mateo,” she said, referring to the controled landfill of an adjacent locality.

San Mateo Mayor Jose Rafael said the town’s 19-hectare engineered dump was ready to accept solid waste of the province and Metro Manila.

“This is the solution to the perennial problem of garbage,” he said, adding that the facility would serve as a model for shifting from open dumps such as Payatas in Quezon City.

Lawyer Andy Santiago, landfill developer, said the San Mateo site had environmental safeguards, taking care that the pit is secured to prevent leachate from escaping through a high-density polyethelene membrane, the latest in landfill technology.

“This ensures the safety of San Mateo residents that there will be no secretions from the solid wastes to endanger their health,” he said, noting that a leachate pond was built into the design to see to it that no raw liquid gets released from the landfill complex.

Rafael said his town hosted the landfill for neighboring towns and cities, convinced that San Mateo had the waste-management technology every local government could adopt. –Gigi Muñoz David, Manila Standard Today