Tons of Chaba debris still awaiting recycling

At the Lower Base Refuse Transfer Station, 63-year-old Claro Bactol expertly wields a chainsaw, cutting tree branches and trunks before they are placed into a wood chipper machine.

Tons of debris from fallen trees and branches fill a portion of the Lower Base facility, making the work laborious for Bactol and another man operating the machine.

“With this amount of wood, completing this work will take us about three to four weeks,” Bactol said. The work only began Monday, and it had to be interrupted when the machine required maintenance last Tuesday.

Besides damaging and destroying hundreds of homes in the Northern Marianas, Chaba left the islands with approximately a thousand tons of debris of mostly green wastes.

Robert Jordan, the Division of Solid Waste Management’s environmental planner, said the wastes were stockpiled at the Lower Base facility, the Marpi landfill and the old Puerto Rico dumpsite.

He said that, while the Puerto Rico dump has been closed to the public, the Division of Environmental Quality has permitted the Solid Waste Management to dispose of green wastes at the old dumpsite.

“Typhoon Chaba was a great learning experience for debris removal,” Jordan said.

The cost of clearing the islands’ roads and pathways of debris cost the CNMI more than $100,000 dollars. Jordan said about 3,000 cubic yards of debris have yet to be properly disposed of. Reimbursement of the cost, however, may be availed of from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Highway Administration.

“The stuff [green waste] is inert. It decomposes,” Jordan said. Solid Waste Management plans to convert green wastes into wood chips, which could be used by anyone as ground cover for beautification or eventually as compost or fertilizer after the wood chips undergo a natural process of biological decomposition.

Green wastes rank second among the wastes that are being recycled on the islands. Among the debris left by the supertyphoon, they comprise approximately 85 percent—or approximately 8,500 tons. Jordan said green wastes that were stockpiled at the Marpi landfill and the old Puerto Rico dump would also be recycled into wood chips.

Recycling to extend dump lifespan

The recycling process significantly reduces the amount of waste that go to the multi-million-dollar Marpi landfill to prolong the lifespan of the facility that has been dubbed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a model sanitary landfill in the entire Pacific.

Jordan said Saipan’s average daily trash load is 150 tons. “What we have right now will probably be full in 2007 [if the wastes do not undergo recycling],” he said.

Even as the government plans to expand the Marpi landfill’s capacity through the construction of four new cells in addition to the existing two cells, the facility could be filled to capacity by 2012 if no recycling of wastes take place.

“With recycling, we can extend that life for another 10 to 15 years,” the environmental planner said.

About 50 tons of wastes are recycled on Saipan everyday, Jordan said. He said recycling diverts about a third of the wastes on-island from the Marpi landfill, better than the national average of 28 percent.

The DEQ said there are at least eight recycling facilities on the island. The Lower Base Refuse Transfer Station also has a recycling facility, which has been operated by the joint venture of Ericco/Maeda.

The company has been undertaking the project known as “Operation: Basula Produkto,” which allows not only the contractor to rake in money from the garbage trade, but also community members. By dumping aluminum waste at the transfer station’s Materials Recovery Facility, residents get paid, besides being exempted from paying tipping fees.

Those who throw aluminum waste at the facility get paid some 20 cents per pound. A typical black trash bag filled with uncrushed softdrink cans weigh approximately three pounds.

The recycling facility compacts aluminum waste to reduce the cost of shipping the wastes off-island. According to Ericco/Maeda, it can sell aluminum waste to companies in other countries such as Taiwan from $600 to $900 per ton.

The company also recycles corrugated cardboard, compacting bundles of them to reduce the cost of shipping them to Taiwan, where they are bought at $60 per ton.

According to company owner Eric Cruz, Taiwan also recycles the wastes into raw materials that are later exported to Europe, the United States and other parts of the world.

Besides aluminum, cardboard and green wastes, other recyclable wastes include paper, glass, rubber tires, household hazardous wastes such as car batteries, and garment wastes, said Jordan. Glass can be recycled to gravel and sand.

The leading industry in the Commonwealth, the garment factories also produce the highest volume of waste on the islands. Jordan said garment wastes account for a third of Saipan’s trash.

Despite their huge volume, about 80 to 90 percent of the wastes are recycled in the garment waste recycling facility in Lower Base, Jordan said. The facility has a bailer that compacts the wastes to reduce the cost of shipping them to other countries such as Taiwan or Shanghai, China.

Need for household recycling

While the accomplishments in solid waste management have been significant with the construction and operation of the CNMI’s Lower Base Refuse Transfer Station and Marpi landfill facilities, Jordan said trash collection from households needs to be improved.

Solid Waste Management is planning to implement a “universal collection” of trash islandwide, wherein households would be mandated to participate in the recycling process.

Under the plan, the government would hire the services of contractors to haul trash from different villages. The project is estimated to cost less than a million dollars annually.

However, Jordan said it would mandate waste segregation—separating recyclable wastes from other household wastes. Once the plan is implemented, the government would require households to have separate bins to segregate different types of wastes. This would only cost a household about $12 per month.

“Kids will learn that trash are not to be thrown into the boonies,” Jordan said.

He added that separate bins would also be placed in public parks, tourist spots, and other public places to promote waste segregation and recycling. The plan also entails requiring hotels to promote waste segregation.

The problem that has yet to be resolved, however, is funding. He said Solid Waste Management is seeking the support of the Babauta administration and the Legislature, besides looking into possible grants.

“We really feel that it will curb illegal dumping,” Jordan said. The problem on illegal dumping has irked even volunteer groups, who recently lamented the deliberate dumping of bagged trash in stormwater drainages in Tanapag.

Volunteers affiliated with the Environmental Interagency Cleanup Operation Team noticed the eyesores and environmental hazards during their cleanup of stormwater drainages in northern Saipan, covering the area from Garapan to San Roque.

Solid Waste Management has formed a partnership with a national non-profit group called “America Recycles 2004,” which encourages Americans nationwide to recycle and buy recycle products.

The recycling campaign has grown substantially in the nation states since the group’s inception in 1997, according to Enrique Dela Cruz, Solid Waste Management’s waste diversion coordinator. The nation celebrates America Recycles 2004 this coming Nov. 15.

“This year’s campaign is expected to involve millions of people in towns and cities throughout the nation…and will result in new commitments to recycle and seek out recycled products,” Dela Cruz said.

“Recycling is a personal commitment we all need to make,” Dela Cruz said. He encouraged the public to make their pledge to recycle by logging online at www.americarecyclesday.org, which could entitle them to certain prizes.