THE General Services Office (GSO) is eyeing the construction of a materials recovery facility (MRF) on a 50-hectare lot owned by the city in Sto. Tomas Proper to save on costs of waste disposal.
According to Eugene Buyucan, head of the GSO, the city government in 2022 generated some P19 million worth of income from selling recyclables segregated from the solid waste of the city.
With the establishment of the MRF in Sto. Tomas, the projections of the GSO say that there will be savings to the tune of some P13 million per year with the expected reduction in garbage output of the city.
However, the papers for the initial survey of the lot in Sto. Tomas are still pending before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) due to concerns raised by the residents in the area.
Buyucan said that the city is also conducting studies on the feasibility of privatizing the collection of Baguio waste from source to landfill to determine whether privatization is more cost-efficient than the city’s current system.
Currently, the city transports its waste to the Metro Clark Waste Management ESL for the ESL located at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Capas, Tarlac costing P141,335,300 annually.
The budget for the transport and disposal of the city’s garbage in 2023 is only P130 million, leaving the city at a deficit in funding.
