METRO CLARK Waste Management Corp. (MCWM) announced that it completed its expansion project at its landfill facility in Kalangitan in Clark, Pampanga as part of its efforts to meet the country’s growing waste disposal requirements.
“The country’s first engineered sanitary landfill was expanded to fulfill MCWM’s mission to provide world-class waste disposal services to more cities, municipalities, and industrial clients in Central Luzon. The company pointed out that all projections by both local and foreign experts show that the volume of Philippine waste will continue to increase, and already exceeds the total capacity of existing landfills in the country,” the firm said in a statement on Monday.
Citing a study by the Stockholm Resilience Center, MCWM said that the Philippines currently ranks as the top contributor to plastic pollution in the oceans, putting the country among the five largest producers of plastic waste worldwide.
“It is our job to monitor these studies and projections, and proactively plan accordingly. The yearly increase in solid waste in the Philippines, while sobering, was expected. While recycling and other trash reduction measures do help and must be done, there’s just so much waste that the only solution is to expand,” MCWM Executive Vice-President and General Manager Victoria E. Gaetos said.
“We made the decision to invest in this expansion even during the height of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic because this is in the best interests of our clients, and ultimately, of the communities we serve,” she added.
The expansion covered the development of seven more hectares within MCWM’s 100-hectare grounds. It will be used for municipal waste disposal, the addition of leachate treatment plants for the proper eradication of waste by-products, and a new separate disposal cell for treated industrial waste.
The company also acquired new vehicles, equipment, and other fixed facilities to increase operational efficiency. The expansion will also allow the firm to dispose of its clients’ waste to the same international standards and according to global best practices.
Ms. Gaetos added that the firm hopes to widen its coverage as more local government units (LGUs) and industry players look for waste management solutions that are cost-effective, efficient, and strictly compliant with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
MCWM is the country’s first engineered sanitary landfill. It is the exclusive developer of the solid waste management system of the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone, including New Clark City.
The 100-hectare landfill can handle up to 4,000 tons of waste per day, which services multiple industries as well as over 150 LGUs including the cities of Pampanga, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, and Pangasinan. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson