By December, Payatas dumpsite will be replaced with better facility

AFTER more than three decades of operation as the city’s waste
disposal facility, the Quezon City government is finally shutting down
the Payatas open dumpsite before the year ends.

In its place, the city government will put up a controlled waste
disposal facility, also in Payatas.

In a letter of commitment sent to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje,
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista assured the DENR chief that the
city government is preparing for the closure.

Bautista said the final blueprint for the rehabilitation of the
controlled disposal facility is now almost 90 percent complete, with
the city government complying with all the requirements and
environmental regulations contained in Republic Act 9003 or the Solid
Waste Management Act of 2000.

The DENR, however, said Payatas and all other dumpsites in the country
are illegal under R.A. 9003 which prohibits the operation of
controlled dumps.

But Bautista said that there is nothing illegal with the operation of
Payatas dumpsite because the city government continues to run it in
accordance with the approved work plan issued in May 2006 by the
Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR.

Bautista said the city government has been working on the conversion
of the Payatas dumpsite into a controlled disposal facility since
2002, or two years after the Payatas "garbage-slide" tragedy.

Bautista said the city government is now preparing to bid out a
contract for the provision of an Integrated Solid Waste Management
Facility, including a sanitary landfill and material recovery
facility.

Posted in: Payatas dumpsite will be replaced with better facility