DPW to conduct education campaign on tipping fees
The Solid Waste Management Task Force Team is banking on the implementation of tipping fees sometime in July this year to motivate more Saipan residents to improve its waste disposal habits and eventually resort to recycling.
People who are burdened with having to pay for dumping their trash would want to consider other means by which they can get rid of waste for very minimal costs, according to the task force’s project manager John Harder.
To create more awareness on the tipping fees set to be charged in less than two months, Mr. Harder said his team will be conducting a series of information dissemination campaign on the tipping rates.
Harder’s team has so far met with commercial trash haulers, establishments, and members of the business community to discuss on the task force’s plans and changes that will take effect once the new landfill in Marpi is completed.
“Right now, we’re going to spend the next month and a half trying to educate people about the tipping fees,” said Mr. Harder.
The dumping fee for every ton of garbage will be set at $10, he added.
“But loads which are less than one cubic yard will be exempted. Everybody will be allowed to come in and dump trash once a week,” said Mr. Harder.
The waste management team is anticipating some problems with regard to the free dumping privilege for trash haulers.
Mr. Harder said the team will keep a close watch of repeated dumpers, noting that anticipated problems will be less probable when the new dumping facility in Marpi is finished since it will employ state-of-the-art computerized system designed to detect repeaters.
The proposed tipping fee rate in the CNMI is cheapest when compared to the rates in such places as Guam, Japan, Korea, and Hawaii, according to the task force head.
“Some places are charging somewhere in that range $30 to $50. This is a big difference compared to what will be applied here,” he said.
The fees will cover the costs of operating the new Marpi Landfill envisioned to be completed in 2001. (MM)
