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Rizal town reopens dump site
MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila can heave a sigh of relief after it was allowed anew to dump waste in a nearby eastern town — this time at a cheaper cost. Mayor Pedro S. Cuerpo of Rodriguez town in Rizal province said Wednesday his municipality can again accommodate garbage from Metro Manila in its 14-hectare landfill facility. In a press conference in Malate, Manila, Mr. Cuerpo said the 14-hectare Montalban Solid Waste Disposal Facility (MSWDF), which refused to accommodate garbage from Metro Manila since January, will reaccept Metro Manila’s waste to support the municipality’s methane power plant. He added the municipality is even offering a 40% discount to those using the MSWDF, which will be a source of methane gas for the Montalban Methane Power Corp. (MMPC). Built late last year, MMPC is a joint venture between the group of mining magnate Salvador Zamora II and Carbon Capital Markets, a carbon trading company based in London which assumes the carbon credits from the project. A methane gas power generation plant, the P1.5-billion MMPC has been contracted by the Rodriguez government to build and operate the municipality’s landfill gas-to-power facility. Methane is a flammable gas from decaying waste that could be converted into electricity. "The facility is rated to generate 15 megawatts of electricity which will be enough to supply an estimated 15,000 households, utilizing the landfill methane gas that will be recovered from the dumped wastes," Mr. Cuerpo said. He said MMPC is expected to operate this year, thus the municipal government’s effort to attract users of the landfill. Lower fee The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) previously paid the private landfill operator P600 per metric ton of waste. Mr. Cuerpo said that with the discount, the dumping fee will go down to P360. "Considering the official estimate of MMDA that Metro Manila produces 8,000 tons of garbage daily and considering it pays at least P600 per ton for disposal, in a year, a total amount P1.75 billion is spent by the government," he said. "With such figures, the 40% reduction in the cost of garbage disposal is equivalent to P700 million per year in savings for the government." While welcoming the move, MMDA General Manager Roberto M. Nacianceno said, "We will consider it, but we have other options," citing the 36-hectare landfill in Norzagaray Bulacan that is about to open late this month. The MMDA’s garbage haulers were recently barred by the Rizal provincial government from dumping waste in another 19-hectare landfill also in Rodriguez, which is owned by the provincial government. — Elizabeth T. Marcelo, BusinessWorld
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