
The water that overflowed on the road leading to the sanitary landfill in Barangay Felisa, Bacolod, because of heavy rain rendered it impassable to smaller trucks and caused a backlog in garbage collection.
Only bigger garbage trucks could pass on Wednesday and Thursday, Carmela Arcolas Gamboa, executive assistant to the mayor, said on Friday, January 13.
The total backlog in garbage truck trips was 53 for two days, she said.
So starting Friday to Sunday, IPM-Construction and Development Corp. (IPM-CDC), the garbage hauler of Bacolod City, should have 117 trips a day to catch up, she said.
Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez said the access road to the landfill is being cemented to address the difficulty of garbage trucks getting to the area when it rains.
Landfill cell number three had been opened and it will be good for eight months, so the city government is preparing for expansion, he said.
They are also aiming to reduce the city’s garbage by 80 percent through recycling of waste, he said.
The city government is set to conduct the bidding for Bacolod’s new garbage hauler by late this month or early February since IPM’s contract has ended, he added.
Benitez said the estimated volume of garbage of Bacolod has been miscalculated, it is 50 percent more, Benitez said.
The garbage hauler should be paid based on volume collected, and not a fixed rate, he said.
Benitez said he will ask the Sangguniang Panlungsod to consider paying the hauler for the excess volume of garbage collected from that stated in its contract.*