AN OFFICIAL of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) said they will have to maximize the brimming landfill for lack of alternatives.
Engr Lakandiwa Orcullo, head of Cenro’s Environmental Waste Management Division, said they are implementing measures while awaiting the completion of another landfill.
“Atong gina-maximize sa pag-accomodate sa waste sa city. Although I would say puno na gyud sya,” Orcullo said, referring to the existing landfill.
Presently, Cenro uses a bulldozer to push the waste to the less-filled areas of the landfill. The landfill was projected to be at full capacity in 2023.
The 6.5-hectare new sanitary landfill is just adjacent to the current landfill in Barangay New Carmen, Tugbok District.
Divided into two phases, the total allocation is more or less P500 million–the first phase has a funding of P340 million while the second phase, proposed by the City Engineer’s Office, amounts to P200 million.
In an earlier interview, Orcullo stated that the CEO reported a 55% completion rate for the first phase.
About 153 trucks dump garbage in the landfill.
The city’s waste collection has increased exponentially from around 400 tons per day in 2010 to 780 tons in 2022, 746 tons in 2023, and 753 tons in 2024.
At present, Cenro collects 700–800 tons per day. The office urged the barangay officials to strictly enforce City Ordinance No. 0361-10, or the Davao City Ecological Waste Management Ordinance.
Orcullo said installing a Materials Recovery Facility in every barangay is still a challenge due to the lack of space, particularly in urban areas.
Of the 182 barangays, only 53 have MRFs, while 116 only have materials recovery stations. For the composting facility, only 96 households and 47 barangays have an existing facility.
Orcullo said that with the barangays failing to establish a facility, segregation remains a problem, and compostable food waste and scraps end up in the landfills.
