• THERESA MAE DULMAN
Bacolod Mayor Greg Gasataya is urging residents to properly dispose of their waste after it was revealed that coastal areas in the city were swamped with garbage.
Gasataya said Nov. 9 that while coastal communities bear the brunt of illegally dumped garbage, waste management requires a collective effort because inland rivers carry trash downstream from mountain areas, and the city proper to shorelines, like barangays Singcang-Airport and Banago.
“The primary action rests with the barangays, with the city offering support, but the overall effort requires participation from everyone,” Gasataya stressed. “It is the responsibility of each individual to ensure that waste is not thrown into rivers, roadsides, or other areas.”
Last Nov. 7, a multi-agency team and volunteers hauled 16 cubic meters of garbage, or over five tons, from the shorelines of barangays Singcang-Airport and 35.
The City Engineer’s Office also installed a trash trap under the footbridge in Purok 5-Magsungay, along the Lupit River, Nov. 9. Other trash traps were put up in various rivers in the city to reduce the volume of waste reaching the shorelines, by catching debris upstream.
Gasataya said the city also supports the “No Segregation, No Collection” policy launched in Barangay Handumanan recently, and expected to be implemented in other areas.
“Starting small allows us to assess and evaluate where problems lie so the model can be effectively replicated by other barangays,” he added. | TMD
