TABUK CITY, KALINGA – In the just concluded Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) core group meeting for urban barangays, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) reports that the total load disposal of residual waste in January and February this year is at 446 which is equivalent to 838 tons.
In his report, Rielle Domatog, Supervising Environmental Management Specialist, said most of the waste are residual and are generated from households, commercial establishments and public markets.
Domatog calls on households and commercial establishments including market vendors to limit their wastes. He likewise appealed to barangay officials to implement the ban on sando bags as packaging material pursuant to the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Ordinance No.003, series of 2021.
CENRO Head Salud Lammawin stressed the detrimental effects of utilizing cellophanes and sando bags as packaging at the meeting and urged barangay officials to ensure that businesses in their area refrain from using them for food and beverages.
She explained that plastic bags, being a non-biodegradable substance, contribute greatly to waste generation and are the cause of the obstruction of canals and waterways. She promoted the adoption of alternative materials and other comparable organic packaging materials instead.
Along with reducing the widespread use of plastic bags and the amount of residual garbage that is dumped at the sanitary landfill, the CENRO also engages in waste diversion activities like soil covering, producing 3,189 bricks from shredded bottles and 3,875 kilograms in the first two months of this year alone.
The Public Order and Safety Office, the Tabuk City Police Station, and the CENRO continue to monitor public markets in an effort to reduce residual trash, particularly the usage of plastic bags.
