The dumpsite deadline

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently warned local officials, whose areas still maintain open dumpsites, including 12, which are located in Negros Occidental, to close the facilities within six months, or charges will be filed against them.  This to remind them to comply with Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which became effective in 2001, and calls for the closure of all open dump sites within three years after the affectivity of the law.  It is already 2008, and a list of open dumpsites by the National Solid Waste Management Commission shows that there are still 826 such dumpsites all over the country today.

One of the more obvious disadvantages of open dumpsites is the health hazard they pose by attracting all sorts of disease and parasites.  Another less obvious, but infinitely more worrying drawback is dangerous leachate produced by such dumpsites contaminating our precious groundwater.  The methane gas emitted by decaying organic matter in dumpsites also contributes to global warming.  All these arguments make the DENR’s delayed initiative welcome and hopefully provides enough motivation and urgency for the local officials concerned to shut down their open dumpsites.

Operating a sanitary landfill, or a genuine recycling and zero-waste program will no doubt be a costly endeavor.  But it is the law, and local officials will have to comply if they do not want charges to be filed against them.  Aside from that, they will be protecting their constituents from parasites and disease, and preserving valuable groundwater sources from being destroyed by leachate contamination.  A well-designed sanitary landfill could also harness the methane produced by the dumpsite and generate electricity from garbage.

We hope that the local executives concerned take the DENR deadline seriously in spite of the enormity of the task at hand and the very short timeframe involved, because it is now 7 years after RA 9003 was put into effect.

At the same time the national government should also look into the capability of the local governments to absorb the tremendous amount compliance within the time allowed would entail, and its effects on their finances.*