Detailed Engineering Study of
the Surigao City Waste Treatment Facility Surigao
City, which belongs to the Caraga region, the second poorest region
in the Philippines in 2007, is bidding to become the country's model
for solid waste management through its P45 million-worth waste treatment
facility, the first in Mindanao.
Maintaining and operating the landfill will cost
about P7.5 million per year, which will be funded by garbage fees.
Casurra said they will be charging Surigao City residents P25 garbage
fees starting this year, and those from other local governments
that would soon send their garbage to the landfill.
Casurra said Surigao City residents could also earn
extra either as collectors of some 21-ton daily garbage that would
be dumped on a conveyor that leads to the landfill, or from pulling
out free recyclable trash that could be sold.
A P150 million grant from the Swedish government provided the feasibility
studies and engineering, while the Landbank of the Philippines provided
the P45 million to fund the facility. Construction started in 2005.
The facility sits atop a mountain in Barangay Looc,
in the outskirts of the city. It replaces the city's previous dumpsite,
which was near a swamp, thus considered not ideal. The landfill
has a Material Recovery Facility, which will treat the recyclables,
and a leachate collector, which will extract and treat liquids from
the garbage. Toxins will be treated before they are pumped out to
the creeks. |