Cebu City’s trash seen to hit 1M kg a day by 2027

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IN three more years, the garbage generated by households and industries in Cebu City is expected to exceed one million kilograms or 1,000 tons per day based on projections in the city government’s 10-Year Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP).

Based on the same estimate, the city produced 953,261 kilograms of waste each day in 2023 and 963,367 kilograms per day this year.

A 103-page audit report released last October 28, 2024, however, noted that the city’s projections left a major gap by identifying only three sources: residential (53.8 percent), commercial (25.5 percent), and institutional (20.69 percent).

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The audit team composed of state auditors and three engineers from a civil society organization noted that other potential sources of trash not considered in Cebu City’s SWMP are market, industrial, construction/demolition, agricultural, and agro-industrial.

This gap means waste generation projections would be lower than actual, hence key figures based on an incomplete projection would likewise be off the mark including budget, landfill capacity, and the number and holding limits of materials recovery facilities needed.

“With this non-categorization, the plan did not provide baseline information and a clearer picture that may serve as a starting point in a data-driven analysis with regard to various sources of bulk wastes to be able to introduce a sector-specific solution that is fitting to each waste source,” the report noted.

For several years now, the city has been highly dependent on landfill disposal, with close to 100 percent of collected solid waste ending up at the privately-operated Binaliw Landfill.

While the SWMP set a target of at least 55 percent of the solid waste generated to be diverted from landfills in 2023 and around 60 percent in 2024, the audit group said there are inadequate materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and composting efforts made.

According to a 2015 study by the Environmental Management Bureau – Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR), biodegradable waste comprises the largest portion of garbage generated by Cebu City at around 36.56 percent. Recyclable waste was at 35.05 percent and residual waste – which should end up in a sanitary landfill – was only at 28.22 percent.

“However, analysis of audit evidence … showed that composting and product recycling were not given much priority and importance by the City in proportion to its huge potential as a method for resource recovery and to divert waste from the customary landfill disposal,” auditors said.

Based on the City’s SWMP, divertible biowaste or the portion of collected trash that should end up as compost was supposed to be 134.18 tons per day in 2023 and 145.24 tons per day in 2024.

“Contrary to expectation, the City only maintains a two-ton capacity per day composting facility as a component of MRF at Barangay Kalunasan with intermittent operating schedule,” the audit team said.

In 2017, the city government spent P1.99 million for a composting facility in Barangay Taptap and P1.48 million in 2022 for another one in Barangay Basak Pardo but neither was used for the intended purpose as they instead served only as storage spaces.

Appropriations of P10.58 million in 2022 and P10 million in 2023 for MRF infrastructure in different barangays never materialized.

Had waste diversion targets been met based on the 10-year SWMP, the city would have saved P146.95 million in tipping fees paid to the landfill operator in 2023, P159.07 million in 2024, and P171.48 million next year.

Instead, the city is facing a potential problem down the road as the landfill in Barangay Binaliw is expected to reach its maximum capacity soon with other local government units also sending their own garbage to the same location, including Mandaue City and nearby municipalities.

“Though no data is made available by the city on the tons of garbage disposed of in the past years and the remaining capacity level of the said landfill, the rate at which city wastes are generated and the lack of facilities for waste diversion … show that the existing disposal facilities might have already been in critical condition ..or at risk of running out of capacity …in the short run,” the audit report warned.

Despite this, the search for a solution is not moving fast enough, with a proposal to rehabilitate the old Inayawan Landfill still in the planning stage as of August 2023.

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