A House leader has warned that Metro Manila would have a garbage crisis in five years time unless Congress decides to amend existing environmental laws to impose a mandatory waste segregation on all households and all commercial and industrial establishments and allow the use of state-of-the-art and strictly regulated “waste-to-energy” incineration plants.
Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento said that amid raging debates on the possible closure of the Quezon City Sanitary Landfill, which is popularly known as the Payatas dump site, it is already expected to reach it capacity limit by December this year although the Metro Manila Development Authority estimates that it could still be used until 2021.
Other Metro Manila sanitary landfills such as the Navotas Sanitary Land Fill and the Rizal Provincial Sanitary Landfills are also nearing critical capacity. The MMDA estimates that the Navotas landfill can only be useable until 2026 while the one in Rizal can last until 2037, which could be drastically shortened if all other wastes from the other landfills are diverted to this site.
Sarmiento said the inevitable closure of the Payatas dumpsite would mean an estimated 2,700 metric tons of solid wastes that need to be dumped elsewhere every day.