City trains barangays on use of MRF

The city government through the General Services Office conducted a training on the proper use and management of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to five barangay beneficiaries.

General Services Officer Eugene Buyucan said barangays Irisan, Bakakeng Central, Gibraltar and Guisad Central were capacitated on MRF management being the recipients of such a facility worth P600,000 each for a total of P2.4 million.

The project was funded by the Environmental Management Bureau under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Cordillera Administrative Region way back 2018 and was only completed recently.

Buyucan said the beneficiaries were identified by the DENR based on the barangays who responded to their survey relative to the implementation of Republic Act 9003 on proper waste segregation.

“The GSO partnered with the EMB-DENR to train the barangay officials on the use of MRF for them to be able to manage their own solid waste within their jurisdiction, and in essence reduce the amount of waste being brought to the transfer station,” Buyucan explained.

Officials of barangay Lualhati also participated in the training, having an MRF constructed back in 2016.

The MRF are divided into four compartments to segregate biodegradable waste from recyclable, residuals and special waste (divided in tow: hazardous and electronic waste).

With proper waste segregation using the MRF, only the residuals are to be collected by the city to the transfer station before it is hauled into the landfill outside Baguio.

The barangay is expected to compost their biodegradable waste and use these in strengthening their urban gardening efforts while the recyclables may be sold by the barangay as an additional source of income. The special wastes are to be collected by the EMB. – JMPS