Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya—Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Regional Director Gwendolyn Bambalan recently urged local officials here to further develop their Sanitary Landfill (SL) into eco-tourism purposes.
Bambalan, along with local government officials here visited the town’s SL and recognize it as a show window for state-of-the-art facilities for Minerals Recovery Facility (MRF) in Cagayan Valley.
She also thanked local officials for their compliance to the provisions of the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) act and recommended that the area will be further developed into an ecotourism area for ESWM.
“You can plant trees surrounding the area through the National Greening Program (NGP) and use the treated water to irrigate the plantations,” she said.
Bambalan advised local officials to apply for tenure instrument for occupying and utilizing forestland in the operation of their facilities. Ben Moses Ebreo
“You need to have a permit for you to be more environmentally compliant, the staff working in the facilities should be provided with protective gears for their safety,” she said.
Bambang’s SL also has leachate treatment facility and MRF which was established in compliance with the ESWM Act of 2000.
Mayor Pepito Balgos said the P65 million SL, inaugurated in June 2019 is an engineered waste management facility touted as the first of its kind in Region 2.
He said the facility serves as the town’s final disposal site for solid and residual wastes providing a leachate management system simultaneously storing solid wastes while decomposition process takes place thus, protecting the underlying groundwater against contamination.
Kim Jimenez, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer (MENRO) said the LGU established its MRF and vermi composting facility in 2011.
He said the LGU started operating its machines for biowaste crasher, and bottle and glass pulverizer in its MRF last year. Ben Moses Ebreo