The amount of solid waste generated in Iloilo City has steadily increased since 2010, according to the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO).
According to engineer Neil Ravena, the city’s average volume of garbage collected per day went up to around 400 tons this year.
When the city’s dumpsite in Barangay Calajunan, Mandurriao district opened in 2010, the average daily waste was 150 tons. The figure went up to 260 tons per day in 2016 and it doubled in 2020 despite the closure of several restaurants, malls and other commercial establishments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ravena attributed the increasing trend of waste generation in the city to, among others, the use of plastics for packaging and shipping of online purchases.
On Tuesday, October 3, the city government entered into an agreement Cemex Holding Philippines to process the metropolis’ low-density plastic waste into a power source for their factory.
“It is good. Cemex can significantly help us. They will get our plastic, the process is called co-processing. They will use them as fuel in their cement factory,” Ravena said.IMT
