ATOK, Benguet – The municipal government purchased a heavy-duty garbage truck to ensure the timely collection of garbage, especially in the business centers of the locality and other major barangays.
Mayor Franklin Smith stated that the funds for the purchase of the garbage truck had been earmarked in the annual budget of the municipal government last year but the purchase was realized only this year.
He commended the officials and employees of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources office (MENRO) for their passion and dedication in aggressively conducting information and education campaign on the ground to inform the residents on the importance of segregating their waste at source to lessen the volume of garbage that are being brought to the town’s residual containment area in barangay Caliking.
Further, he noted that even among business establishments, the compliance to the segregation of waste at source is significantly improving thus the need for the municipal government to sustain its information and education drive to educate residents and visitors alike on the proper disposal of their waste to help in ongoing efforts to ensure the preservation and protection of the environment.
Last year, the municipal government hauled out more or less 4 tons of residual waste from its residual containment area to the Capas, Tarlac engineered sanitary landfill.
Smith admitted that residents must strictly comply with the segregation of waste at source to help in significantly reducing the volume of residual waste being hauled out of the municipality considering the limited resources of the municipality, thus, the need for the utmost cooperation of the people in efforts to address the solid waste management concerns right at the household level.
According to him, the municipal government has to take advantage of the awareness of the residents on the importance of effective and efficient solid waste management for them to pass on to other people the need to properly segregate garbage at source to minimize the volume of waste being brought to the residual containment area and prolong its life span.
He stipulated that with the increasing population in the municipality, efforts must be done to also contain the significant increase in the volume of solid waste being generated by the households and maximize the segregation of waste at source and use the segregated waste for fertilizers in the case of biodegradable ones and recycle those that are still useful.
Atok is one of the major tourist destinations in the province hosting the second highest highway system in the country and home to various flower gardens and agri-tourism farms that are frequented by foreign and domestic tourists.
