PALOMPON, Leyte, (PNA) –Leyte board member Mesias Arevalo attributed the successful waste management program of Palompon town to the strict implementation of the garbage collection.
Arevalo, who was vice mayor of Palompon prior to his election to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, said that segregation starts at the house of their constituents.
If they fail to segregate and follow the collection schedule, their garbage will not be collected and will be given with citation ticket, he stated. At the third offense, the violator will have to render community service.
“We have two collection schedules in this town, one in the morning for biodegradable waste then in the afternoon for the non-biodegradable waste,” BM Arevalo explains.
The regional office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has been pushing for segregation at source as part of the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
EMB Environmental Specialist Reygie Ormineta said that they are pushing for segregation at source to limit the volume of garbage being dumped in garbage site as part of their 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) campaign.
“Segregation should start in their houses. In every barangay there should have an area where they can put their garbage so the collector could easy see it,” Ormineta said.
Local government units, according to Ormineta, should also remind garbage collectors not to combine biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes.