Cebu City’s waste management scrutinized as it nears 1M kg of trash produced daily
MANILA, Philippines – As garbage produced by Cebu City increases — with over a million kilograms or 1,000 tons of garbage expected to be produced daily by 2027 — the way the city manages its waste gets scrutinized.
The numbers are from projections of the city government’s 10-year Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP). The SWMP also places 2023 waste projections at 953,261 kilograms daily, while 2024 numbers are at 963,367 kilograms per day.
However, the projections may be lower than reality, an audit team noted, considering the 103-page audit report released on October 28 only accounted for three sources: residential (53.8%), commercial (25.5%), and institutional (20.69%). The projection failed to consider trash generated by market, the industrial sector, construction/demolition jobs, agricultural, and the agro-industrial sector.
“With this non-categorization, the plan did not provide baseline information and clearer picture that may serve as a starting point in a data-driven analysis with regard to various sources of bulk wastes to be able to introduce a sector-specific solution that is fitting to each waste source,” said the audit team, which is composed of state auditors and three engineers from a civil society organization.
Meanwhile, the city’s waste management was also flagged.
Its SWMP said 55% waste generated by the city should be sent to a landfill in 2023 and 60% in 2024. However, Cebu City has been dependent on landfill disposal, with nearly 100% of its solid waste ending up at Binaliw landfill, which is already expected to reach its maximum capacity soon. Other cities such as Mandaue and other municipalities are also sending their garbage there.
Plans to rehabilitate the old Inayawan landfill is only at the planning stage, posing a potential problem for waste management for the landfill-dependent city.
A 2015 study of the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR) showed that 36.56% of Cebu City’s garbage were biodegradable waste and 35.05% were recyclable. The residual waste — the garbage that should end up in a landfill — only accounted for 28.22%.
Why were more waste coming into landfills? “Composting and product recycling were not given much priority and importance by the City in proportion to its huge potential as a method for resource recovery and to divert waste from the customary landfill disposal,” the audit team said.
The audit group also pointed out that there are not enough materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and composting efforts made in the past. This is despite having the facilities and budget earmarked for the MRF infrastructure.
The City’s SWMP noted that divertible biowaste or trash that could be used as compost was supposed to total 134.18 tons daily in 2023 and 145.24 tons in 2024.
“Contrary to expectation, the City only maintains a two-ton capacity per day composting facility as a component of MRP at Barangay Kalunasan with intermittent operating schedule,” the audit team said.
The city already spent 1.99 million on a composting facility in Barangay Taptap in 2017. It also invested in another P1.48-million facility in 2022 at Barangay Basak Pardo. Neither have been used and are currently being utilized as storage facilities.
Meanwhile, the city’s budget of P10.58 million in 2022 and P10 million in 2023 that was supposed to be dedicated for MRF infrastructure had never materialized.
If Cebu City had met its waste diversion targets on the SWMP, it would have saved P146.95 million in 2023 in tipping fees to the landfill operator, P159.07 million in 2024, and P171.48 million in 2025. – Rappler.com