The city government under the new administration of Mayor Belen Fernandez will continue the W2W waste-to-energy project with the SURE Global Waste to Worth Innovations (W2WI) facility that is expected to end the city’s garbage problem.

“According to the SURE Global Waste to Worth website, the principle behind W2W projects is that all waste is viewed as a resource to be recovered and used to stimulate economic development,” Fernandez said in a statement Thursday.

She said the concept originated from Procter & Gamble Co., a multinational consumer goods corporation, which aims to eliminate waste going to landfills and dumpsites through the adoption of innovative solutions.

“The USD11 million W2W facility, to be established at no cost to the city government of Dagupan, can load up (to) 30 tons of garbage daily and can convert plastic wastes into 6,000 liters of diesel fuel, and food wastes into 4,000 kg. of methane gas,” she added.

Fernandez and SURE Global Waste to Worth Innovations founder and chief executive officer Jill Boughton conducted a site inspection at the open dumpsite in Bonuan Boquig, near Tondaligan Beach, on August 21 to oversee the magnitude of the garbage problem.

It can be recalled that Fernandez and SURE Global W2WI entered into a memorandum of agreement in August 2017 to improve the solid waste management in the city and put an end to the open dumpsite, in compliance with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

A groundbreaking activity was held in Sitio Bliss, Bonuan Binloc on a portion of public land segregated in a Presidential proclamation purposely for the project in 2018, according to the City Information Office (CIO).

“The project had already complied with the necessary government requirements, including an environmental compliance certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources but was not pursued by the next city administration,” the CIO said. (PNA)