The local government here is looking forward to a project that will deliver an innovative and sustainable waste management solution.

Mayor Jerry Treñas, after a meeting with the Iloilo Waste Recovery Joint Venture Corporation (IWRJVC) on Monday, announced that the Iloilo City Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility will have its groundbreaking ceremony in Barangay Ingore on April 4.

“A key highlight of this facility is its advanced technology and innovative approach to environmentally friendly waste management. This technology will generate power and solid fuel through anaerobic digestion and not burning,” he said in a statement.

Engr. Neil Ravena, head of the General Services Office, said the facility will process waste and is not another sanitary landfill or dumpsite, but an enclosed facility that is not exposed to weather.

“It will not be construction of another sanitary landfill or another dumpsite. We will not dump our waste into the area. Rather, there is a facility that will accept our garbage for processing. The processing will produce power or energy that will supply our desalination plant, which will produce potable water for Iloilo City,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.

He said they expect the facility to cater to 400 tons a day, but it could process up to 460 tons.

It will also have a material recovery facility that will serve as a sorting facility to remove those that do not decompose, like ceramics, stones, and glass.

The project is eyed for completion on the last quarter of 2026, 18 months after the groundbreaking ceremony, in time to complement the operation of the desalination plant, which also broke ground last month.

It is also just in time for the closure of the Calahunan sanitary landfill.

The Calahunan dumpsite is 23 hectares, with 10 hectares having a 10-meter-high garbage dump and only 3.3 hectares as a sanitary landfill.

Ravena said once the dumpsite is closed, they target to bring the area back into its original state – with no garbage and environmental impacts brought about by the dumpsite.

“We will have a feasibility study and a closure plan so we can manage the closure of the Calahunan facility,” he said. (PNA)