BAGUIO CITY — The City of Baguio, through the General Services Office (GSO), needs to work double time as Baguio's daily waste generation increased to 550 tons from 400 tons during the pre-pandemic times and 320 tons during the pandemic.

GSO chief  Eugene Buyucan said the 550-ton daily output was only for a normal day waste production and thus can even rise during events and peak tourist seasons. The rise in waste production was based on the result of the 2022 Waste Analysis and Characterization Study (WACS) which is required of the city every three years as per Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Management Act of 2000.

According to Buyucan, the WACS findings meant each person generates .55 kg per day at present as against the .45 kg per person per day findings in 2016. He said to address this, his office stepped up the waste segregation and recycling campaigns in all barangays to reduce the production rate.

The city is also set to build a centralized materials recovery facility (MRF) soon with the required budget already worked out. It will boost the operations of the five existing barangay-based MRFs which are all contributing to waste reduction efforts.

The office is also continually networking with non-government organizations to amplify programs like Zero Waste and 3R (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse) through information-education-communication (IEC) campaigns in the communities.

Buyucan attributed the rise in waste generation to the new normal lifestyle of the people embracing delivery and online purchases."Online purchases require packaging and wrapping and this entails voluminous wastes added to the regular wastes generated," he said.

He said the increased waste production is also caused by the surge in tourist arrivals after the lifting of the pandemic restrictions. "More people equals more garbage.  It's that simple and we need the cooperation not only of our residents but also of our visitors in managing our garbage through segregation, reducing, recycling, and reusing methods," he said.