In few months, the former Irisan garbage dumpsite of the city of Baguio will become an environmental-friendly ecology park.
Walls, paved road, cement pathways, on-going improvement of parking space, thriving greenery on terraces, trees, and a few huts for shade. Recyclables have been utilized as planting materials along available areas were introduced.
“From a mountain of mixed biodegradables, recyclables and residual garbage, procedures are being undertaken to clean up and turn the area into a habitable area.” General Services Officer Eugene Buyucan said.
A leachate tank has also been constructed for liquid filtrate – contaminants from the mixture of residuals and special wastes which threatens the water table in the area.
The transformation of the area started in July 2019, and leveling, terracing, planting and landscaping has been done. Agricultural lime has also been sprayed earlier to control odor from the buried garbage.
Market waste or biodegradables, are still being processed at the Environmental Recycling System (ERS) within the area, turning them to soil conditioner or compost for fertilizer. It was noted that the usual recyclables in neighboring houses’ rooftop or lower parts are no longer seen, with changes to other lines of businesses.
In the past, several executive secretaries have visited the area including Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu and Undersecretary Benny Antiporda; including Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Ano, pointing out areas needing improvement. Environmental factors such as water and air quality, were also tackled during said visits.
It can be recalled that a Writ of Kalikasan from the courts deemed the garbage dumpsite closed and transferring the staging area from Irisan to Lamtang, La Trinidad.
Presently, the city is using a government property at the Department of Agriculture (DA) Dairy Farm along Marcos Highway as sorting and staging area of non-biodegradable waste before these are transported to an engineered sanitary landfill in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.
The project to transform the former Irisan dumpsite to a park costs more than ₱ 17M with 175 calendar days to complete.
(Joseph Manzano, RPN DZBS Baguio OIC | Julie G. Fianza, photo courtesy by CT Diwas Rhenan)