The City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (CLENRO) needs additional garbage trucks to address the daily waste collection averaging 40,000 metric tons. CLENRO chief Armen Cuenca bared that despite a new contract for a new private garbage collector in the city being awarded, the number of trucks fell short of collecting the remaining 7,000 tons. "There are about 50 garbage trucks operated by Jomara Konstruct Corporation which officially started collecting garbage on March 24 this year, and they are averaging a daily collection of 33,000 tons," Cuenca said in a statement Thursday. A study conducted by CLENRO found that the city experienced a 52 percent increase in garbage disposal in just five years, according to Cuenca. The local government, he said, has already requested the private contractor to purchase additional garbage trucks to cope with mounting waste volume. Earlier, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando Uy warned "complacent" officials of the city's 80 barangays that they could face penalties if garbage is not properly managed in their respective areas, as mandated by Republic Act 9003, or the Solid Waste Management Act in the city's 80 barangays. Meanwhile, Cuenca said that aside from noncompliance with solid waste management law, inadequate household waste disposal, piggeries and poultry farms in the upland community are also among the causes of high fecal coliform in rivers, creeks that go down to Macajalar Bay. As a short-term solution, he said CLENRO will install three additional trash traps with activated charcoal in the areas of Bitan-ag Creek costing around PHP1 million. Coffee festival Meanwhile, in another development, the Cagayan de Oro Hotels and Restaurants Association (Cohara) is set to launch the first Mindanao Coffee Festival here this October. Cohara vice president Eileen San Juan said the festival will be included in its Kumbira Food Festival. "We need to support our coffee shops with our local coffee. So we want to bring in the farmers, our producers, and our coffee shop owners under one big event that will happen this October," she said. San Juan said this city alone has some 230 coffee shops servicing the public.
Source: Philippines News Agency
