MANAY, DAVAO ORIENTAL— Governor Nelson Dayanghirang has led the groundbreaking ceremony of the first Provincial Government-funded Sanitary Landfill on Friday, March 22, at Sitio Bagsak, Barangay Central in Manay town.

The P30 million project funded under the province’s disaster funds will accommodate residual wastes from all over the Municipality of Manay as it can hold up to 15 metric tons per day. According to a study, Manay produces an average of 1.8 tons per day, the fourth highest garbage-generating municipality in the province.

The Sanitary Landfill, designed by Engineer Earl Bahandi of the Provincial Engineer’s Office (PEO), includes a Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

Environment and Natural Resources Office Head Dolores Valdesco said that the project is compliant to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which, among others, mandates proper segregation of solid wastes.

Valdesco added that the project has passed Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s standard for engineering and geohazard. She said it will also serve as an ecological park as it will be surrounded with trees that will serve as its buffer zone.

Governor Dayanghirang, who led the groundbreaking ceremony, said that the Sanitary Landfill facility, once completed, will become a subject for benchmarking activities of different LGUs in the entire region.

“Once this project is completed, this will become a destination of government officials from different LGUs because there are not many Sanitary Landfills in the entire region eleven or even in the entire Philippines that is designed such as this one. Our future Sanitary Land fill here in Manay Town is engineered to store residual waste without causing health and water contamination,” Governor Dayanghirang told residents in his speech.

With the sustainability mechanism already planned, PEO OIC Engineer Ruel Dumadag, on the other hand, said that once the project will generate employment when it is turned-over to LGU Manay.

“If properly implemented and maintained, the Sanitary Landfill will have an impact on ‘educational tourism’,” he said, adding that facility is specifically designed for proper disposal of solid waste that reduces harmful effects to the environment and the people, thus, improving the health and safety of the community,” he added.

He challenged the LGU Many to strictly implement waste segregation and recycling as included in the sustainability plan is the incentive strategy.

“Long-term impact of this project are health and wellness, socio-economic activity that will create livelihood and employment, and above all address social environmental safeguards,” he added. Photos by Eden Jhan Licayan