DISPOSAL FACILITY

The current disposal facility of Buevnaista, Guimaras is on a 0.5 ha. land in  barangay Piña which have been converted into a controlled dump site with a Notice-to-Proceed (NTP) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued on August 12, 2005. The site is fenced with barbed wires. At the entrance a huge signboard stood, on which are written in Ilonggo the rules and regulations imposed by the Local Government Unit for its operation and management.

The sign reads:

  1. Only registered ESWM volunteers are allowed inside the site.
  2. Individuals below 18 years of age are not allowed inside the premises.
  3. Non-government employees should present IDs and register before entering the site.
  4. ESWM volunteers working at the site should wear the required working habits and implements while inside facility.
  5. Workers are accountable to the appointed ESWM Manager and should observe his/her instructions.
  6. Recyclable materials recovered at the site should be turned over to the ESWM Manager.
  7. Recovery of waste should be done starting at 6 a.m..
  8. Any problem that may arise should be reported to the ESWM Manager.
  9. No ESWM worker is allowed to work alone at the site.
  10. All ESWM workers should attend the regular monthly meetings of the group.
  11. Eating and cooking of food are not allowed inside the site.

The workers at the site pick the bio-degradable and recyclable materials from the collected waste brought by the dump truck. About 6 cu.m. of wastes are disposed in the site every day. At the time of the monitoring visit, there were but a few flies at the heap of freshly disposed waste, and the area where waste was laid open and uncovered were relatively small. A thin trail of smoke rises from a smoldering pocket of wastes.

At a corner of the site, Ecological Solid Waste Management Volunteers sort the recyclable wastes into different types: plastic, metals, and bottles, which are then put inside plastic sacks. The volunteers earn about P500 pesos per week from the sale of these recyclable materials.

The residual wastes in the disposal site, stripped of the recoverable wastes, are covered periodically with soil. The frequency of soil covering depends on the availability of a backhoe borrowed from the Provincial Government. The Local Government Unit does not own a backhoe for pushing the waste and soil cover. Sometimes municipality resorts to borrowing equipment from the Local Government Unit of Jordan and the Provincial government.

Eventually, the Local Government Unit of Buenavista will close down the controlled dumpsite in barangay Piña. The process of preparing a closure plan is in the offing. The municipality has 2 alternatives for a waste disposal site. One is the proposed establishment of a sanitary landfill facility on a 4 ha. lot in the same barangay. This site has already been assessed by the MGB, although, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has yet to be conducted. The second alternative is to participate in the efforts of the Province to put up a common facility for all the municipalities of Guimaras. Clustering of municipalities appears to be a viable option for a Province like Guimaras which has 5 municipalities, mostly agricultural, and a relatively slow rate of urbanization.

GTZ-AHT