CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- This city's "no segregation, no collection" policy for solid wastes will initially take effect in 46 barangays on July 1, the City's Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (CLENRO) said Tuesday.



Engr. Armen Cuenca, CLENRO chief, said 46 barangays are pilot testing areas to study the system and evaluate possible improvements. The city has 80 barangays.



Cuenca said the pilot villages consisted of 40 downtown barangays and six villages that have large land areas and population.



"We are targeting that by 2020, all barangays would be all compliant," he said, adding the local government will embark on information dissemination within the first six months of the year.



He also said that the garbage to be collected will only be limited to residual wastes; those that are biodegradable and recyclable materials will remain at source.



"The landfill is for the collected residual wastes only; for the rest, (residential and establishments) it's encouraged to have their compost pits or MRFs (materials recovery facility) for organic wastes," he added.



Cuenca said the city also plans to adopt a Quezon City ordinance that penalizes the improper disposal of wastes.



The "no segregation, no collection" policy is mandated by City Ordinance No. 13378-2018, or the "Integrated Eco-biological Solid Waste Management Ordinance." The same ordinance regulates the use of single-use plastic bags that penalizes violators with up to PHP3,000.



Kris Galarpe, a faculty member and researcher at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines here, said that while awareness on the environmental harm of plastic is increasing, focus must also be given to other harmful pollutants that equally devastate the environment.



"Plastic is just popularized because it's a structural pollutant obvious to naked eyes," Galarpe said.



"We don't even have regulatory standards for specific organic pollutants be it PAHs or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, POPs or persistent organic pollutants, hormones, and other organics," she pointed out.



She also said that while the Philippines has been named as one of the plastic waste polluters of marine waters, "the biggest marine pollution is untreated inland domestic wastewater, which is a problem because there are no centralized wastewater treatment facilities so far in the country." (PNA)