Some 220 indignant locators within the Clark Freeport Zone have expressed fears the favored Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Porac, Pampanga is not “ready” to haul their effluents after the City of San Fernando LGU said the area may become an “open dumpsite.”
PhilExcel Business Park, Inc., one of the biggest investors in the Clark Freeport with 220 tenants, said Prime Waste Solutions Pampanga (PWS) has yet to “visit their area and answer their queries.”
“Are they ready to cater us all?,” asked PhilExcel Business Park, Inc. management. There are more than 1,000 foreign and local investors inside the Clark Freeport, who mostly relied on the engineered sanitary landfill of the Metro Clark Waste Management (MCWM) located in Kalangitan, Capas, Tarlac.
“Since CDC have already provided us the guidelines and we’re expecting Prime Waste to be present today to answer our queries. Firstly, are they going to pattern the same procedure as of that MCWM? Secondly, why until now they were not able to provide us their guidelines? Thirdly, were they able to visit our place considering we have 220 tenants,” asked the PhilExcel management.
“Locators are asking how Prime can do the service considering they never even visited and inspected their place. MCWM does this procedure that before we even have contract with client, there is (an) inspection, orientation and on-site meetings,” said the PhilExcel Business Park, Inc. management. “We already spoke to them last week and till now we didn’t hear anything from them that is why we asked the assistance of the CDC president.”
A tenant inside PhilExcel also said: “All of us were only given one week to work with Prime. Too tight for all of us.” “May we know the reason why there is an abrupt change of hauler?,” asked another.
In a statement on September 27, 2024, the Prime Integrated Waste Solutions has noted that “the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) has named Prime Waste Solutions Pampanga Inc. (PWS Pampanga) its newly-accredited lone service provider authorized to handle collection of residual waste within the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone.”
It said PWS Pampanga operates a modern, large-scale materials recovery facility (MRF) in Porac, Pampanga with a capacity to process 5,000 tons of solid waste per day.
Earlier, the City of San Fernando local government has expressed fears the proposed waste facility in Porac, Pampanga, will become an open dumpsite in the wake of mounting complaints in Cebu City where PWS operates a similar MRF.
Maria Theresa Doble, OIC, CSF City Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO), has said the proposed waste facility in Porac may replicate the problems besetting their operations in Cebu City which allegedly became an open dumpsite.
Cebu City residents had reported the foul odor emanating from the Binaliw Landfill.
Cebu City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia has already ordered an investigation into the incomplete PWS Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) which reportedly emitted foul odors, contaminates water, and facing operational inefficiencies. Garcia, who conducted an on-site inspection of the Binaliw landfill on Friday, September 20, said urgent steps must be taken to solve the pressing issues of foul odors, contaminated stagnant water, and runoff during heavy rains.
“Hindi malayo base sa kung sino ang nagooperate. Ang nagooperate sa Binaliw Landfill is the same management operating at the Prime Waste Holding. Binaliw is not a landfill but an MRF base on the news and statement of Mayor Garcia of Cebu City,” according to Doble.
When asked if the Porac waste facility is ready to accept the volume of waste in Central Luzon, Doble said it cannot cope up with its current capacity. “No, they are only mechanized Material Recovery Facility not an engineered sanitary landfill wherein they have only Residual Containment Area (RCA) for the residual,” Doble said.
Doble said the City of San Fernando which has “35 barangays, only have 12 city trucks running whole day from 2am to 10pm and other subdivisions transferring their residual waste in our CMRF, the average residual waste of the City is 120-125 metric tons a day.”
“The best solution for the waste management is waste reduction, waste diversion and informed and disciplined waste generators,” Doble said.
More than 150 LGUs all over Central Luzon, and parts of Pangasinan and Benguet had been opposing the closure the only sanitary engineered Kalangitan Landfill in Capas, Tarlac.
Meanwhile, some members of the Environmental Practitioners Association (EPA) who asked not to be named, said the new wastes facilities in Porac and Floridablanca “are not yet tested” and they prefer the services of the MCWM in Capas, Tarlac.
Members of the environmental group and locators inside the sprawling Clark Freeport said they are not ready to utilize the waste facilities in the towns of Porac and Floridablanca because these are not yet “tested.”
The Porac and Floridablanca wastes facilities are not also accredited by the PEZA to haul wastes from the more than 1,100 foreign and local investors inside the Freeport zone.