HAZARDOUS WASTES CRISIS LOOMS WITH CLARK LANDFILL CLOSURE — COMPANIES

BY KEVIN GALANG

CAPAS, Tarlac – Waste treatment companies said a hazardous waste crisis is looming with the impending closure of the 100-hectare Kalangitan landfill being operated by the Metro Clark Waste Management Corporation (MCWMC) in this town.

Officials of the Pasig City-based Dolometrix Philippines Inc. and the Gulf Oil Petroleum Products based in Bulacan, in a video conferencing at the landfill operator’s facility last Monday,  said only the MCWMC sanitary landfill is capable of disposing the hundreds of metric tons of hazardous wastes they collect from their clients.

Both companies are registered with the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as hazardous waste treatment facilities.

Under the law, only treated hazardous wastes must be dumped in sanitary landfills.

Dolometrix operation’s manager April Dianne Rivera and marketing and transport manager Florence Alberto both said the 250 to 500 metric tons of hazardous trash they collect each month have nowhere to go after the landfill closure in this municipality because it is the only landfill capable of disposing treated hazardous wastes.

“Kailangan po naming i-store ng matagal at mangangailangan kami ng mas malaking storage facility kung isasara ang Kalangitan landfill dahil ito lang po ang may capability na mag-dispose ng treated hazardous waste,” Alberto said.

Gulf Oil general manager Benjie Razalan echoed this, saying they could not bring the hazardous and large non-hazardous wastes from clients to other landfills because they are not capable of disposing such.

Local government environment officers of Bamban, Capas, Tarlac City, as well as the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, appealed for the extension of the MCWMC’s operation until December this year, saying that their respective budgets for garbage disposal are good only for the tipping and other fees being collected by the landfill operator.

The sanitary landfill here was supposed to be closed down by the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) last October 6, the last day of the 25-year service contract between the CDC and MCWMC. But a Capas Regional Trial Court issued two succeeding temporary restraining orders against the two government-owned firms, which will last until October 24 this year. 

Last May, the MCWMC filed a civil suit against the CDC and BCDA at a Regional Trial Court in Angeles City, seeking a 25-year extension of its contract to operate the sanitary landfill.