Solid Waste Management Office steps up expanded mandate to keep Naga clean, green, and orderly

BY JASON B. NEOLA

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Since it was transformed into a bigger office, the newlycreated Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO) is up to bigger things as city hall’s newest department.
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In its report, the SWMO has completed a total of 41 special projects within the period March 2011 to December 2011 in various barangays of the city. These include rehabilitation of footbridges, declogging of canals and drainage systems, construction of pathwalks, riprapping, repair of public restrooms and day-care centers, and beautification projects, among others.
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The SWMO’s focus today, while not setting aside its various responsibilities on a day-to-day basis, is the full development of Plaza Rizal, where certain improvements and initial beautification efforts have been initiated since the plaza’s management and supervision have been finally turned over by the Camarines Sur provincial government to the city government by virtue of a Supreme Court decision following a controversial two-decade long legal battle over the plaza’s ownership and territorial jurisdiction. Today, the plaza hosts a Senior Citizen’s Office and a massage therapy center being managed by the members of the city’s Center for the Blind.
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Soon will be developed a food court and more beautification initiatives to make the plaza truly a convenient and easily accessible haven for promenades and travelers in the middle of the city’s old commercial district.
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Meanwhile, Engr. Martin expressed elation over the significant decline in collected garbage which he credited to the people’s awareness on waste segregation thru effective information dissemination down to the household level.
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“Our residents have realized that they could benefit greatly from reusing some of their trash,” Martin was quoted as saying. “I think this is already the result of all our efforts in campaigning for the recycling and reusing of garbage, upon instruction of the mayor,”
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Records of the SWMO show that in 2009, the city used to collect 68.84 tons of garbage per day for its estimated total day population of 210,778 souls. Naga, as the center of trade, commerce, education, and religious rites and activities in the province, absorbs on a daily basis shoppers, office workers, diners, laborers, traders, and students from other towns immediately surrounding the city and even beyond, making thecity’s registered population almost double during day time, which also means that the city’s garbage and wastes increase because of these ambulant visitors.
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This 2009 volume of garbage from households, though decreased to only 57.01 tons per day in 2010 or a significant slide of 34.3 in actual waste collected, follow stricter measures and thorough information dissemination of mandatory waste segregation. As projected, the wastes collected further decreased to 58.28 tons per day.
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Martin noticed that many food businesses in the city have almost altogether stopped using Styrofoam and plastic utensils, which contributed to the impressive decrease in waste collection.
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Another factor that contributed to the decline, Martin said, is the functionality of Materials Recovery Facility or MRFs, including the new one put up at the Naga City People’s Mall, the city’s public market.
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The SWMO is manned by a total of 89 personnel, classified as follows: 34 permanent, 41 casuals, and 14 on job order. These are aside from the 19 personnel assigned at garbage collection and the 44 streetsweepers who are ably keeping the city’s major streets clean seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
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Workers at the dumpsite in Barangay Balatas are continually processing garbage into highgrade compost while the SWMO pursues to put up MRFs in all of the city’s 27 barangays.