THE City Government of Davao is in dire need of a new sanitary landfill as the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) informs the one we are currently using in Barangay New Carmen, Tugbok District should have been closed a year ago.
In an interview on Thursday at the iSpeak Forum, Cenro Head Engineer Eliza Madrazo said the 3.5-hectare landfill in Tugbok District should only be ideally used for five years before it's closed down.
The sanitary landfill in barangay New Carmen was opened in 2010.
"It can still last up to 2017 but we are already compacting everything, it's at its maximum. We badly need to have a new area for our garbage disposal," Madrazo explained.
The Cenro will submit potential areas in the city where they can build another solid waste management facility as well as another sanitary landfill.
Madrazo eyes to pass the proposal to City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio within the year to speed up the process as it would take almost a year to finish the construction of the new solid waste management facility.
The construction of the building as well as the other equipment to be used for the facility will cost the city some P500 million while another P30 million will be spent to acquire the land area.
"We are looking at two sites: one for the north and the other for the south," Madrazo said.
The Cenro chief added that the lifespan of the sanitary landfill could actually last until 10 years if only the residents have followed proper segregation.
"Some of them throw construction and residual wastes to our garbage bins, which were supposedly only for biodegradable wastes," she said.
She is hoping that the mayor will immediately approve the proposal so they could start with the year-long process of building another landfill, hopefully, by the end of 2017.