CAMIGUIN (PIA)—To entice more people to visit the island and foster a healthier environment for all, the provincial government here intensifies its solid waste management and monitoring of all barangays.

In their second quarter meeting, June 9, the Provincial Solid Waste Management Board reported that 100% of the five towns’ 57 barangays have material recovery facility (MRF), yet only 98.21% are functional. Thus, the provincial government highly encourages the barangay leaders to fully maximize their facilities.

Nykolsha Closas Rayos, provincial planning officer, also added that only 86% of the barangays have sorters, and they are still closely coordinating with the eight barangays that still need to have their sorters. As for the personnel, only 12% of the barangays have drivers, and 87.7% have enforcers.

The planning officer also reported that 26.3% of the 57 barangays have compost pits and only 12.3% have garbage collection vehicles.

For the municipalities, 60% have central MRFs, while only one town has secured a septic truck as well as a communal compost pit.

"Only Mambajao and Mahinog have a pyrolysis gasification machine, and only Mambajao has a functional plastic shredder," Rayos added.

This year, the province’s five towns allocated about P10.9 million for their solid waste management projects, programs, activities, and services.

Based on the reports submitted to the province, the provincial government recommends the creation of a team to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the solid waste management plan and ordinances, capacitate barangay officials on their roles and functions, establish communal compost pits in the barangays, rehabilitate MRFs, and conduct regular water sampling or testing.

For their part, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) reminds the residents to strictly observe the "no open burning" policy, adopt a single and simple segregation method, and come up with an agreement with the municipal local government units on the hauling and corresponding fees to be paid. (RTP/PIA-10/Camiguin)