BAGUIO CITY – The sudden closure of the Urdaneta engineered sanitary landfill in Pangasinan nearly caused another garbage crisis in Baguio and Benguet over the past several days following the non-collection of generated waste in the different barangays.
While the staggered collection of garbage resumed in Baguio on Thursday, several towns in Benguet that are hauling their garbage to the Urdaneta landfill have yet to feel the impact of the said closure although their respective municipal environment and natural resources officers are pursuing talks with the management of the nearest landfill in Porac, Pampanga for the temporarily disposal of their waste in the said facility.
Initially, the Baguio City government was able to negotiate a temporary agreement with the management of the Porac landfill for the hauling of the city’s residual waste to the facility which is more than 200 kilometers away from the city where the hauling cost is expected to double from the current more than PhP800 to over PhP1,600 per ton but with a lower tipping fee of PhP550 per ton from the current PhP650 per ton.
In a latest advisory, the city government stated that regular garbage collection will resume next week while the staggered collection started Thursday in the city’s central business district area to prevent the garbage from piling up around the city.
An earlier advisory that was issued compelled households not to bring out their generated waste starting June 2, 2025 following the sudden closure of the Urdaneta landfill while efforts are being done to address the pressing problem to avoid the occurrence of a garbage crisis which might be a repeat of what happened in the city some 17 years ago.
The management of the Urdaneta landfill is being required by concerned government agencies and the Urdaneta City government to comply with stringent measures for the protection of the health of the people living in nearby communities and the overall state of the environment in the area.
However, the Baguio City government reminded the residents to practice the segregation of waste at source to contribute in overall efforts to significantly reduce the volume of garbage being hauled out of the city considering that current data shows that some 200 to 250 tons of waste are being hauled to the Urdaneta landfill daily prior to its closure.
Among the towns in Benguet that are hauling their garbage to the Urdaneta landfill are La Trinidad, Itogon and Atok but not on a magnitude like what is being done by Baguio.
For his part, Itogon Mayor Bernard S. Waclin claimed that there will surely be a significant increase in the hauling cost of their garbage once they opt to also forge an agreement with the Porac landfill management considering that it is already the nearest disposal facility after the closure of the Capas landfill in Tarlac and now the Urdaneta landfill in Pangasinan.
He expressed hope that the Urdaneta landfill management will be able to immediately address the issues and concerns of the concerned government agencies and the local government so that it will be able to start accepting the garbage from the Baguio and Benguet local governments to save on the high cost of hauling among other related expenses.
In 2008, the city encountered a garbage crisis following the order to close the city’s Irisan open dumpsite as mandated by the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 where all local governments had been mandated to close the operation of their open dumpsites and subsequently replace the same with controlled dump facilities or engineered sanitary landfills for the protection of the health of the people and the preservation of the state of the environment in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
Since then, the city government had already been hauling out its residual waste first to the Capas engineered sanitary landfill in Tarlac before doing so in the Urdaneta landfill in Pangasinan because of its proximity to the city.
Based on the data obtained from the City General Services office, the Baguio City government is spending more than PhP200 million annually purposely for the hauling of the city’s waste to the Urdaneta landfill that comprise the hauling cost and tipping fees for the garbage being dumped in the said facility.
Concerned local governments are trying to study the possibility of embracing the use of various available technologies to address their respective garbage problems in close collaboration with concerned government agencies and the private sector. HENT
