Baguio needs 50 garbage trucks, has only 27

BAGUIO CITY — Baguio City needs at least 50 operational garbage trucks to increase the frequency of solid waste collection across its 128 barangays, but only 27 trucks are currently operational, limiting residual waste collection to once a week in residential areas, a city official said.

Assistant City General Services Officer Ma. Guadalupe Della said the existing fleet is sufficient only to maintain the current collection schedule in the barangays and twice-daily collection in the city’s central business district.

She said barangay officials remain critical to the city’s waste management program by ensuring garbage is properly segregated at designated staging areas before collection.

Della said volunteers and personnel from the General Services Office (GSO) also sort waste at the city’s transfer station before residual waste is transported to the engineered sanitary landfill in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, reducing the volume ultimately hauled out of Baguio.

Despite ongoing information campaigns, compliance with household waste segregation remains low, she said, prompting barangay officials to enforce segregation at source before waste is collected.

“The local government continues to maximize the use of its current fleet of garbage trucks,” Della said, adding that public education remains central to improving waste disposal practices.

For nearly two decades, Baguio has transported its residual waste to the sanitary landfill in Urdaneta City because it does not have its own final disposal facility.

The city spends between P150 million and P200 million annually to haul its residual waste to the landfill, according to Della.

She said the planned construction of a central materials recovery facility (MRF) at the temporary waste transfer station in Barangay Dontogan is expected to significantly reduce the volume of waste that must be transported outside the city.

Della said residual waste generated by the city reached about 230 tons in March before declining in succeeding months, then rising again during the rainy season, resulting in fluctuating waste volumes.

She attributed improvements in waste management partly to increasing public cooperation and the efforts of barangay officials to enforce segregation at source.

Among the city’s waste reduction initiatives is a circular economy program that converts recovered plastics into armchairs for public schools.

As part of the program, six barangays — Irisan, Dominican-Mirador, Guisad Central, Gibraltar, Bakakeng Central and Happy Hallow — have been provided garbage trucks to pilot separate collection of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste.

The city also recognized 18 barangays for collecting single-use plastics that were recycled into 45 armchairs donated to Baguio Central School for use by Grade 3 pupils, showcasing the city’s waste-to-resource initiative.

(Source: Baguio City Public Information Office)