ARINGAY, La Union – A proposed sanitary landfill where garbage in Baguio City would be dumped gets the go signal of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), it was reported.

Joel Salvador, regional director of the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau, said in a phone interview that the town’s existing landfill in Barangay Poblacion here has an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), but it should be amended to allow the development of additional area intended for the dumping of the Baguio garbage.

“This is a good project of the local government units (LGUs) of Baguio and Aringay because it is in compliance with Republic Act No. 9003 which mandates all LGUs to set up engineered landfill facilities,” Salvador said.

Decie Garcia, Aringay’s planning and environment officer, said the residents near the landfill site have approved the project, and the barangay officials have passed a resolution unanimously endorsing it because it is an income-generating project.

“The government of Baguio will fund the project with at least P50 million, an amount which Aringay cannot afford. We want to avail ourselves of the opportunity because it’s not only income-generating but it will also create jobs and protect the environment,” Garcia said.

Garcia said Aringay would get yearly revenue of some P35 million once the project becomes operational because Baguio will pay for the disposal of its garbage.

Salvador said it’s good for Aringay because it will have additional income but the town will have to comply first with the requirement to secure an ECC before the municipal officials negotiate with Baguio officials on the terms and conditions of the project.

Baguio City Mayor Reinaldo Bautista already wrote Mayor Teresita Ong about the project.

Ong said she had endorsed Bautista’s letter to the municipal council for it to pass a resolution authorizing her to negotiate with Baguio officials.

However, the council failed to pass a resolution allegedly due to politics.

Garcia said the Municipal Solid Waste Management Council has passed a resolution endorsing the project because it knows its importance and recognizes Ong’s effort to comply with RA 9003.

Garcia added that the project’s design and technology would be supplied by Metro Waste, a company which built the engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac.

Contamination of water will be prevented because lay liner will be laid underground, and pipes would be installed to collect leachate (garbage juice) going to a pond where a treatment facility would be built.

Waste pickers would sort out the garbage of recyclable materials, and only residual wastes would be disposed in a hole which will be covered with soil to avoid the proliferation of insects and rodents.