DAVAO CITY – The City Environment and Natural Resources Office, in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government has urged the barangays to segregate their trash properly as mandated by the Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance of 2009.

Recently, CENRO conducted a Solid Waste Management Summit with officials from all 182 barangays which focused on compelling barangay leaders to implement segregation schemes in their communities while reminding them of the laws that mandate segregation, composting, and the creation of a Barangay Solid Waste Committee.

Engr. Marivic Reyes, CENRO head, said the purpose of the summit is to renew their pledge of commitment concerning solid waste management by enforcing waste segregation or segregated collection.

"Among all the practices in solid waste management, only segregation remains not fully enforced," she added.

Based on their data, this city generates around 700 metric tons of trash per day, a significant fraction of which is made up of reusable materials.

Reyes said that to segregate solid waste fully, barangays can establish either a material recovery facility or a material recovery system.

"It requires a structure wherein all solid waste are sorted while the latter refers to the placement of trash bins in key areas. Of the 182 barangays in the city, only 40 has a segregation facility or MRF while the rest rely on MRS to manage their solid waste," she added.

Reyes said each barangay has the budget to establish their MRF or MRS and CENRO is also willing to help barangays with existing MRF or MRS to become fully functional.

"Penalties for those who do not segregate will now be more stringently imposed. Those who commit the offense of littering, open camping, and non-segregation can be fined ranging from PHP500, PHP1,000 and PHP5,000," she added.