Dagupan, Procter & Gamble Finally Signed MOA to End Garbage Woes

DAGUPAN SIGNS MOA WITH SURE GLOBAL W2W INNOVATIONS FOR WASTE TO ENERGY FACILITY 

DAGUPAN CITY – In compliance the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act”, Mayor Belen T. Fernandez and the SURE Global Waste to Worth Innovations entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on August 10 to improve the city’s solid waste management and end the operation of the 50-year old open dumpsite in Tondaligan.

SURE is under the auspices of Procter and Gamble and the Asian Development Bank.

THUMBS UP FOR W2W – Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (2^nd from left, seated) along with City Legal Officer Victoria Cabrera (left, seated) and the members of the council (standing from left) Marcelino Fernandez, Marvin Fabia, Jeslito Seen, Alvin Coquia, Jose Netu Tamayo, Maybelyn DC Fernandez, Dennis Canto and former councilor Carlos Reyna do the thumbs up sign with Jill Boughton (2^nd from right, seated), president and Chief Executive Officer of SURE GlobalW2W Innovations and Paul Puthenpurekal (right, seated), director of SURE GlobalW2W Innovations after signing the Joint Venture Agreement by and between the City of Dagupan and SURE GlobalW2W Innovations for the W2W facility. (CIO photo by Jojo Tamayo)

The MOA was signed by Jill Boughton, president and Chief Executive Officer of SURE Global W2W Innovations; Paul Puthenpurekal, director of SURE Global W2W Innovations; City Legal Officer Victoria Cabrera and Fernandez in a fitting ceremony held at CSI Stadia.

The Waste to Worth Project, especially designed for Dagupan, underwent a series of feasibility analyses. It aims to deliver an economically viable, environmentally sound and fully compliant with environmental controls and guidelines.

The Waste to Worth facility in Dagupan is anticipated to produce 4,000 liters of diesel from plastics and 6,000 kilograms of usable methane from food waste per day.

Boughton assured that the facility will be environment friendly to the city as it will strictly comply with the environmental controls and guidelines once it is operational.

“We will not create another problem by solving a different problem,” said Boughton.

Boughton disclosed that the facility is about $11 million dollars worth at no cost to the city.

“What the city will do was just to provide us a land and supply us with 30 tons of garbage a day,” added Boughton.

In the whole country, Dagupan is just among the three recipients of the project in line with the Procter and Gamble Company’s Waste to Worth project.

“Finally, after hard work and dedication, we can now make our city MRF and garbage free and the cleanest city if not in the region in the whole country. This is for the people of our city,” said Fernandez.

Crispian Lao of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, who traveled all the way from Manila to witness the signing of the MOA, commended the project and said that if Dagupan can treat 30 tons of waste, there’s no other reason for other Local Government Units (LGU) not to properly dispose off their waste.

Lao said that at present 50 LGUs are facing cases before the Ombudsman for violation of R.A. 9003 and a hundred more will face the same suit soon. 

Fortunately, Dagupan is not included among the LGUs facing suit before the Ombudsman nor among the next in the list of LGUs to be slapped with suits.

Lao said those sued were  Mayors, Vice Mayors , members of the council, the environment officer and members of the barangay council.

Lao noted that at least Dagupan is doing something to address its waste problem.

OPEN DUMPSITE TO BE CONVERTED INTO A PARK

After the MOA signing, Boughton hopes the project to start the soonest.

“We will now consult with our engineering people to do the preparations, which will probably take a year before we can proceed with the groundbreaking of the project,” assured Boughton.

Once the W2W facility becomes operational, the city’s 50 year old dumpsite will be closed and will be transformed into a park.

In anticipation of the volume of garbage needed for the operation of the facility, the city has already purchased 10 mini-dump trucks to haul 30 tons of garbage from various parts of the city. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/August 10, 2017)