Surigao city to open waste treatment facility in December

In a bid to become a model in solid waste management, Surigao City, located in Surigao del Norte province, is set to open and operate its Swedish-funded waste treatment facility in December.

In a briefing with Manila-based reporters, Alfonso Casurra, Surigao City mayor, said the P45-million facility will address the solid waste management needs of the city, which daily produces 21 tons of garbage.

The 20-hectare facility will be located on top of a mountain in the outskirts of the city. An access road has been built for the project.

“The Sweden government has given a P150-million grant for the feasibility study and detailed engineering design for the project. The P45-million construction cost was a loan from the Landbank of the Philippines," he said.

Casurra added that the facility will be able to segregate leachate, which are the liquid extracts from the collected garbage and will then be treated which can be released to creeks.

Besides this, the facility will also have a “materials recovery facility," where residents may be able to pick recyclable materials for free in exchange for their commercial disposal.

“We will open a tiangge (flea market) where people can sell these materials," he said.

Casurra said the city government is looking for a way to collect P25 monthly dues from some 12,000 households as fee for garbage collection.

The facility is estimated to incur P7.5 million maintenance cost annually.

“This facility is the first in Mindanao and hopefully will be a legacy to future generations as it may be able to take in garbage for the next 50 to 70 years," he said. (CHERYL M. ARCIBAL, GMANews.TV)

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