ILOILO City – Garbage collectors of the city government will gather only segregated waste, according to the General Services Office (GSO).
But this “no segregation, no collection” policy does not cover everyone – only the “institutional waste generators” like malls, factories and warehouses – GSO head Joren Sartorio clarified.
GSO officials tell institutional waste generators that only segregated waste will be collected and only residuals will be accepted at the sanitary landfill in Barangay Calajunan, Mandurriao district.
Residual waste materials are those left after biodegradable and recyclable wastes have been segregated.
It was not immediately clear how and when the city government will apply the policy among households.
Visiting businesses and teaching them about waste segregation are part of efforts to address improper waste management, one of the alleged causes of flooding in the city, Sartorio said.
They will soon visit barangays, he said, especially that the Department of the Interior and Local Government recently called on villages to activate their solid waste management councils.
Another GSO team is trying to work out an agreement for barangays to send their recyclables to junk shops to reduce the volume of landfill-bound garbage, he added.
In addition, the GSO will conduct a waste analysis and characterization survey this month to determine the current waste generation of the barangays.
“It will [involve] random sampling,” Sartorio said, adding that they tapped the University of the Philippines and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau in creating the survey design.
Overall the city currently generates 300 tons of garbage a day – 50 percent are biodegradable, 25 percent are recyclables and the remaining 25 percent are residuals. (With reports from Philippine News Agency/PN)
