LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government earmarked some P30 million from its annual budget next year to continue expanding the operation of its Alno controlled dump facility to sustain the effective and efficient solid waste management and put a stop on the expensive hauling of the town’s residual waste to the operational engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda stated that the fund will be used to expand the operation of the facility’s cell No. 2 to be able to accommodate the increasing volume of garbage being collected by the municipality from the town’s 16 barangays daily in preparation for the projected filling up of the cell No. 3 which is currently being used as the disposal area.
“We want to stop the hauling of our garbage to Tarlac because it is draining our resources. We want to expand our dump facility’s cell No. 2 so that we will be able to save on our expenses considering the significant reduction on our national tax allocation for next year,” Mayor Salda stressed.
At present, the local government is hauling out more or less 30 tons of garbage to the Capas landfill daily.
The local chief executive claimed that the hauling expenses had significantly increased recently following the increase in the tipping fee by the operator of the landfill that is why it is still best for the local government to work out the expansion of the operation of the available cells in the controlled dump facility to be able to save on expenses and maximize the use of the existing facility.
According to him, the development of Alno’s cell No. 4 entails a huge investment from the local government and that the ultimate solution to the said problem on resources is for the local government to be able to funding support from the various national government agencies or obtain a grant from international financial institutions like the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the European Union for the realization of the full potentials of the dump facility.
The Mayor pointed out that the local government was able to previously invest on the improvement and expansion of the Alno dump facility that is why its cell No. 3 is now being used as a dumpsite for the town’s generated waste except for the residual ones that are being hauled out to the Capas landfill.
However, he admitted that the local government should not rely on the hauling out of residual waste because it is eating up a significant portion of the available resources that is supposedly allocated for other development projects or further improve the delivery of basic services to the people in the different barangays.
Mayor Salda assured the residents that the local government will continue to explore all possibilities that will be geared towards improving the town’s garbage collection and disposal to prevent the unnecessary problems caused by the presence of uncollected garbage in their barangays that will contribute in the destruction of the environment and compromise their health and safety by causing the spread of illnesses within their communities.
