I.

Solid Waste Management Sectoral Study

Discussion
Currently, household and market wastes are being collected thrice a week without being
segregated with the use of a 3.5 m3 capacity truck provided and operated by the LGU of
Tunga. Three persons are in-charge of the waste collection: a driver and 2 collectors.
The collected solid waste is brought to an open dumpsite per classification of EMB
located in Barangay San Roque with an area of 0.526 ha. Only half of the total area is utilized
for final disposal of garbage because portion of it is used as a composting facility, a MRF and
a vegetable garden. In the composting facility which is managed by the Municipal
Agricultural Office, production of vermicompost was made possible thru the technical
assistance of the Office of Provincial Agriculturist (OPA). This is where rice stalks and
collected and stocked after the harvesting season. These said stalks are used as substrates
and are mixed with madre de cacao for composting with the aid of worms. Produced
vermicast are used as fertilizer/soil conditioner in the vegetable garden.
As with the MRF, the person in charge does the sorting of the disposed un-segregated
wastes. Some of the recyclable wastes that are recovered include aluminum cans, plastics
and plastics bottles, and metals. These are being sold to ambulant junk buyers.
The waste collection covers only the urban barangays namely: San Antonio, Sto. Niño,
San Pedro, San Vicente and San Roque. Within these barangays, approximately 80% of the
households from these barangays enjoy waste collection services because the garbage truck
cannot pass narrow and unpaved pathways to cater the interior households thus several
disposal practices are done by other households including backyard open and pit disposal,
burning and even disposal in the river.