BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance requiring all sellers of agricultural crops to dispose of their agricultural refuse at source or at their point of origin.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Elaine D. Sembrano stated that the measure is aimed at prohibiting wholesalers or traders of agricultural crops in disposing of their agricultural refuse in the city public market and in the different satellite markets that add up to the volume of garbage being collected by garbage collectors in the said places daily.
The ordinance tasked the City Market Supervisor to strictly implement the provisions of the measure to lessen the volume of garbage being dumped in garbage collection points in the different parts of the city public market and in various satellite markets around the city.
According to the proposed ordinance, the city public market is reportedly the source of a high volume of organic agricultural waste or refuse, such as, vegetable trimmings, rotten flowers and fruits, that are openly dumped by unscrupulous market vendors and the public in the garbage collection areas around the city.
The ordinance disclosed that most of the generated agricultural refuse in the city public market do not actually come from the city but from nearby provinces, cities and municipalities and that the same add up to the volume of garbage being generated in the city that translate to the increase in the funds spent by the local government for the hauling of the city’s residual waste to the Urdaneta-based sanitary landfill.
Based on data obtained from the City General Services Office that is in charge of the collection of garbage in the different parts of the city, the average volume of agricultural refuse collected daily in the city public market alone has been categorized as vegetables – 15 tons, flowers – 1.5 tons, and fruits – 0.7 tons.
The ordinance added the local government has to effectively and efficiently address the volume of waste generated in the city’s public and satellite markets that add up to the burden of the garbage collectors in the daily collection of waste in the city by making sure that agricultural refuse being brought to the city by wholesalers and traders are not be dumped in the garbage collection points but the same must either be brought back to the points of origin by the traders or dumped appropriately in identified dumpsites outside the city.
By properly disposing of agricultural refuse outside the city, the ordinance cited that traders will be able to contribute in the efforts of the local government to significantly reduce the expenses of the city on garbage disposal considering that the city’s residual waste is being hauled out of the city and disposed in the existing Urdaneta-based sanitary landfill.
The ordinance was referred by the local legislative body to a committee for study and recommendation whether or not the same will be approved on second and third readings to compel wholesalers and traders to properly dispose of their agricultural refuse outside the city when delivering goods for their clients.
By Dexter A. See
