City calls for waste reduction in households, businesses

The city government of Baguio through the General Services Office (GSO) calls on households and businesses to help the city in its solid waste management efforts by reducing the amount of waste being collected, particularly non-biodegradable waste.

This was the plea of Margie Della, assistant department head of the GSO in a press conference Wednesday following a two-day disruption on the collection of residual waste from June 3 and 4, 2025.

The GSO announced that they will be unable to collect residual waste due to the sudden closure of the engineered sanitary landfill (ESL) in Urdaneta, Pangasinan where non-biodegradable waste from Baguio is being hauled out.

Della said fortunately, the city was able to negotiate with Primewaste Solutions ESL in Porac, Pampanga to accommodate residual waste from Baguio beginning June 5.

However, the transfer from Urdaneta to Porac would entail cost from P853 per ton to P1,600 per ton in hauling fee.

Della said the tipping fee decreased from P650 per ton in Urdaneta to P550 per ton in Porac.

She said the city government spends more than P200 million per year on hauling and tipping fees to manage Baguio’s residual waste thus the need for behavioral change to gradually reduce waste production starting from households and businesses.In the past two years, the GSO stepped up efforts towards waste reduction in households in the city to effect a change in solid waste management under the slogan “Basura Mo, Bawasan Mo!”

The city’s daily waste generation totals 592 tons almost equally broken down to biodegradable (35.90 percent), recyclable (30.82 percent) and residual (32.55 percent) based on the Waste Analysis and Characterization Study (WACS) in 2022.

With the projected annual increase of .56 tons per day, this year’s expected total daily waste output would be 600 tons.

“Please ensure proper waste segregation and let us work together in reducing the amount of garbage we produce by practicing the 10 Rs of Circular Economy: repurpose, recycle, recover, refuse, rethink, reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, and remanufacture,” Della said. – JM Samidan