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[av_heading heading=’‘Teach villages waste mgt ’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act states that garbage must be segregated at source. But most Bacolodnons are not doing this.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod thus asked the Department of Public Services (DPS) to hold a “massive information and education campaign” on waste segregation and management in the city’s 61 barangays.
Under Republic Act (RA) 9003, local governments are primarily responsible for enforcing the law, the city council said in a resolution approved Oct. 18.
“There is a need to emphasize to the barangays their duties and responsibilities [on] waste segregation and management as mandated by RA 9003,” said Councilor Cindy Rojas, author of the resolution.
DPS head Nelson Sedillo said they have yet to get a copy of the resolution but he already assured the city government department is willing to assist the barangays by providing trainers.
Sedillo interprets the “source” in RA 9003 as the villages.
He believes the Liga ng mga Barangay should be the one leading the information campaign on garbage segregation. After all, every barangay has a budget for solid waste management, he claimed.
It was learned that the garbage the city government’s waste collector, IPM Construction and Development Corp., gathers from the villages every day are all mixed up.
It would be better if the barangay councils enforce the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act — specifically the provisions on waste segregation — themselves, stressed Sedillo.
Just this July the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Region 18 rated Bacolod City a “failure” in solid waste management.
The city has “poor” solid waste segregation, and proper waste management codes are not being followed at its sanitary landfill, Regional Director Sophie Manuel told a news conference.
In 2014 the local environment office was already encouraging the locals to segregate their domestic waste.
There is no reason for households to keep garbage unattended in their premises, then City Environment and Natural Resources Officer Max Sillo said.
By practicing segregation, only residual wastes are thrown for pickup, while the rest can either be recycled or sold, Sillo said.
Not all households in this city segregate their garbage, he admitted.
It was only in June when EMB found Bacolod City, along with Bago and Cadiz cities in Negros Occidental, compliant with RA 9003 for having a 10-year Ecological Solid Waste Management Plan and a sanitary landfill./PN
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