“It is but a scare tactic that must be ignored.”
I’m not sure how long it has been since news that the Kalangitan Landfill in Capas, Tarlac would soon be closed came out. The closure story carried on with scenarios of an anticipated garbage crisis. Almost all of those news portrayed an almost doomsday garbage polluted environment.
The projected predicaments were repeated from different perspectives. I definitely understand the concerns. But I have this strong sense that the decision makers are not that dumb to not consider the most logical requirement for such essential facility closure—the existence of alternatives. It’s not rocket science.
Could it be that the said looming garbage crisis in Central Luzon is mere imagination?
It’s simply common sense, right? Just like in a household, if the father or the mother decides to stop placing their garbage bin in a particular spot, there’s certainly a good reason for it, and there will definitely be a new spot for that bin. Pure logic.
Just recently, I chanced upon a special report that essayed the sound alternative destinations for the garbage that Kalangitan Landfill is receiving. For the benefit of those who didn’t see the article –especially those who need to know where the garbage can go other than the closing landfill — here are alternative facilities in close proximity to Kalangitan Landfill.
There’s the Eco Protect Management Corporation, a 34-hectare Category 4 facility in Porac, Pampanga with a daily capacity of 2,500 metric tons of domestic waste. The company is willing to offer promotional packages for local governments to ensure the proper disposal of their waste, even after the Kalangitan Landfill closes.
The Floridablanca Enviro Park Project Corporation facility currently operates a 91-hectare Category 4 Sanitary Landfill in Floridablanca, Pampanga. It can process 1,000 metric tons of domestic waste daily, and there are plans of increasing its capacity to 3,500 metric tons per day.
In line with plans for the facility to increase its capacity for treated hazardous waste by 1,000 metric tons, the facility is currently undergoing an Environmental Impact Assessment.
Floridablanca Enviro Park is a subsidiary of Berjaya Philippines, Inc. and part of the Berjaya Corporation Berhad network from Malaysia, known for its innovative landfills in Malaysia and China.
According to the Environmental Management Bureau’s (EMB) preliminary assessment, both landfills have great potential to be alternatives to the Kalangitan landfill. EMB also ensures that these sanitary landfills comply with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Prime Waste Solutions Inc. in Porac, Pampanga has the largest capacity of the three facilities. It can process 5,000 tons of waste per day. Inaugurated in June 2024, this facility uses advanced waste segregation and storage equipment to reduce landfill volume and methane emissions.
In total, the three alternative facilities have a capacity of 11,000 metric tons per day — much larger than the 3,500 metric tons per day capacity of the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill.
These three alternative facilities have enough capacity and ability to be the destination of waste coming from different places, including waste coming from Baguio City.
Two of these facilities will be able to process medical or hazardous waste starting this October 2024. And the other one will soon accept hazardous waste as well.
When one closes, more opens.
Indeed, there is no garbage crisis taking place; it is just a product of imagination that created unnecessary apprehensions and a scare tactic that should be ignored.
Engr. Eduardo Peralta is a structural engineer who owns an architectural and engineering services firm in San Fernando, Pampanga.
