TARLAC CITY – Mayor Susan Yap plans to allocate a portion of the municipal budget to supply rice to citizens in return for plastic bottles and other reusable items as waste accumulation increases within the city.
Yap revealed her initiative during her initial flag-lifting event on Monday (July 7), mentioning that her government has engaged various companies willing to gather these items.
"I am going to introduce certain initiatives to encourage people who collect plastic bottles since there is already a business willing to purchase all these materials for recycling," Yap stated.
"Siguro maaari nating magkaroon ng programa tulad ng palit bigas (plastik para sa mais) upang pukawin ang mga taong walang ginagawa na makilala ang pagkolekta," dagdag niya.
People who observed the action praised the decision, stating that it might assist in alleviating the city's trash problems, particularly since waste pickup has been unreliable over the last several days.
Yap mentioned that only P109,000 remained from the over P62 million designated for waste management this year.
A large amount of waste has accumulated in Barangay Aguso because transportation to the Urdaneta landfill in Pangasinan has been halted.
Yap mentioned that her government will enhance the utilization of material recycling centers within the city.
She mentioned that the Armenia solid waste facility will resume operations to decrease the transportation of trash to the Urdaneta landfill, thus reducing disposal costs.
Barangay officials will also be assigned to educate the community about correct garbage sorting practices.
This isn't just the responsibility of the government," Yap stressed. "The people play an important role in this.
She also requested the regional government to provide some vehicles to supplement the city's few available units since waste management used to be handled by a private company.