ATOK, Benguet – The municipal government ordered the temporary suspension of garbage collection in the different barangays for at least two weeks or until such time that clearing of its ecopark will be completed to prevent the piling up of solid waste in this said facility.
Mayor Franklin Smith, in his memorandum, stated that personnel assigned to collect garbage will temporarily be assigned to the ecopark in Sayet, Caliking barangay to clear the accumulated solid waste in the area to avoid further accumulation of waste that will result to more problems for the local government and the people living in the surrounding communities.
He pointed out that it is unreasonable and improper to allow the accumulation of garbage in the ecopark and keep on collecting additional garbage as this will surely translate to more serious environmental and health problems.
Mayor Smith reminded the residents that the local government resumes garbage collection, only the non-recyclable materials or the residual waste will be collected to prevent garbage from piling up in the town’s ecopark.
Further, he advised the residents to practice segregation of waste at source to facilitate the proper collection of the garbage generated by the households and businesses in the municipality.
Earlier, the local government embarked on the collection of garbage and the use of the ecopark as its residual containment area.
Smith claimed that the accumulated garbage in the ecopark will be gradually hauled out to the engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac until such time that the area shall have been cleared to pave the way for the resumption of the collection of the residual waste generated by the households and businesses from the different parts of the municipality.
The local government is maximizing the use of its 2 trucks in the collection of the generated waste in the different parts of the municipality and storing these in the ecopark in barangay Caliking.
He assured the residents living near the ecopark that the municipal government will clear the facility from the accumulated garbage to ensure that the hazards posed by the stockpiled waste to the health of the people and the environment will be prevented while maintaining cleanliness in the said area.
The mayor asserted that the municipal government is doing its best to ensure its compliance to the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act but the cooperation of the residents is needed, especially in the segregation of waste at source to minimize the residual waste being accumulated in the residual containment area so that the occurrence of future problems will be averted and contained.
Atok is one of the towns of Benguet located along the Halsema highway which hosts the second highest peak of the Philippine highway system and various agri-tourism destinations being frequented by foreign and domestic visitors.
