BACOLOD City – Garbage bins will be removed at the Libertad public market to ensure that vendors follow the “no segregation, no collection” policy in the city.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran – head of the Solid Waste Action Team (SWAT) – said this after meeting with the vendors on Tuesday with Councilor Cindy Rojas, chairwoman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on environment and ecology.
According to Familiaran, the vendors have “committed” to observe solid waste segregation sans the trash bins beginning Jan. 18.
Removing the garbage cans at Libertad – like what the city government did at the Bacolod Central Market – will force vendors to segregate their waste so that these could be hauled by garbage collectors from IPM Construction and Development Corp., the city’s sanitary service contractor.
This measure was agreed upon not only by the vendors and SWAT but also the IPM, the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Department of Public Services, and the City Legal Office.
Familiaran stressed that removing bins at Central Market has proven itself “successful.”
“It is a matter of education and discipline,” added the vice mayor.
Personnel from IPM collect segregated garbage around the city from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. every day.
Familiaran said the city government will also deploy personnel to monitor and/or apprehend vendors who will not follow the policy.
He added that erring vendors can be charged for violation of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
Moreover, Familiaran said the sanitary landfill (Cell No. 2) in Barangay Felisa is still under construction.
The new landfill is adjacent to Cell No. 1, which can no longer accommodate more waste./PN
