ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Office of the City Environment and Natural Resources (OCENR) has requested the City Engineer’s Office to accelerate the construction of the second cell at the sanitary landfill in Barangay Salaan, this city.
Gerry Pollisco, head of OCENR’s Environmental Management Division, on Wednesday said there is a need to finish a second cell as soon as possible because the sanitary landfill’s first cell has already reached its maximum capacity.
Pollisco said cell number one of the sanitary landfill was already full as of March 31 this year. Opened on March 31, 2015 with an area of two hectares, it can only accommodate garbage for a period of three years.
He said at least 5,000 tons of garbage are being dumped on cell number one every month, adding they have adopted measures to be able to continue using it by covering the landfill with soil and applying odor eliminator.
Meanwhile, Pollisco said they are also waiting for the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to become operational to help reduce the volume of garbage.
Only residual wastes will be dumped at the sanitary landfill once the MRF is operational, he added. (R. G. Antonet Go/PNA)
