QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista is eyeing the possible transformation of the Payatas dump into an eco-park or any suitable land use as part of its post-closure care activity.
He tasked the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, headed by Frederika Rentoy, to craft a master plan for the controlled landfill to determine short and long-term development initiatives in the area.
This was after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered Payatas’ immediate closure by the first quarter of 2017.
The city government through Rentoy appealed to Environment Secretary Regina Lopez to reconsider her closure order, saying the city’s garbage hauling contract is due to end in September.
The QC government is using the seven-hectare engineered sanitary landfill in Payatas to dispose solid waste generated by the city.
Rentoy asked the DENR for sufficient time to prepare the vital adjustments to ensure minimal impact to QC’s solid waste management system.
Bautista already got the green light from the City Council to forge a joint venture with the private sector to develop the city’s own waste-to-energy plant.
The mayor described it as vital in averting a possible crisis in waste management with the impending closure of the landfill in Payatas.
As provided for under the resolution, the city government shall ensure that the project configuration of the proposed WTE facility is compliant with the required laws and regulations including but not limited to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000; Clean Air Act; Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Act; Renewable Energy Act of 2008 and guidelines governing the establishment and operation of waste-to-energy technologies for municipal solid wastes.