SPECIAL REPORT: Davao City struggles with garbage collection as dumpsite goes past capacity
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 November) — Even with fever and common colds, Melinda Estandarte, 49, continues to sort out garbage and dissect alloys from discarded electronic products at the city’s garbage dump site in New Carmen in Tugbok District here.
It is close to the place she calls home, and thus she is there every day, salvaging anything from the mountain of trash that she can sell.
The Estandarte family leans on Melinda, the sole breadwinner, as her partner Jonathan, 50, is partly paralyzed due to some medical condition. Living with them is their daughter Inday, 22, who is taking care of her two-year-old child.
City officials have acknowledged that the landfill at New Carmen, now operating on its 15th year, is way past its capacity in accommodating the city’s trash. It was, after all, designed to operate for only 10 years.
But for Melinda, the landfill site is her “goldmine” — if she stops scavenging from the pile of trash and selling her finds to the junk shop, “what will our next meal look like?”
Calling herself “mangangalakal” (scavenger), Melinda says she is mainly after two things in the dumpsite: scrap items, either made of bronze or aluminum. Bronze, for her, is the priciest, which she can sell at ₱430 per kilo. Aluminum also fetches a high price, but the material is light, and thus she needs to collect more.
They sell these items to buyers who drive to the super highway area near the dump site.
“Dugay na kaayo mi gapangolekta, 23 years na. Immune na man sad mi sa mga sakit diri, immune na mi sa baho (We’ve been collecting garbage here for a long time, 23 years in my case. We’re already immune to the diseases here, immune to the stench),” she said in between coughs. “Pero gusto man sab namo mag-ipon aron makahawa mi dinhi (But we’re hoping we could save so we could leave this place),” Melinda added.
Another scavenger, Erning Dubad, 42, was observed by MindaNews handling liquid and food from aluminum foils and containers with his bare hands.
By being “just a scavenger,” Dubad was able to send his four children to school, three of them were able to finish at least senior high school.
“Diri gikan akong funding” (My money comes from the garbage here), Dubad said in jest. “Akong funding naa sa Mount Landfill. Maningkamot lang gud ta, para sa atong mga anak” (My funding comes from Mount Landfill. Let’s just work hard, for our children), Dubad said.
“Pero delikado gud. Ingnon nato, immune ta sa baho ug sakit kay anad na mi. Pero kabalo ko, kagaw gihapon among gina-atubang (But it’s risky. Even though we’re immune to the smell because we’re used to it, I know we’re dealing with germs),” he added.
The irony of the ‘sanitary’ landfill
Just less than an hour’s drive away from city hall, the supposed “sanitary” landfill can now be seen as a mountain-like pile full of trash — from residual wastes, to papers, plastics, even expired oils and canisters.
Here scavengers and garbage collectors deal with a mountain of garbage as high as five meters.
There apparently is little research conducted about Davao City’s garbage problem, but a few undergraduate students from the University of Mindanao tackled the issue for their thesis.
Lindsey C. Espino, Jillian Isabel T. Sinangote, Graceziel M. Sun, and Francine Toni B. Caraso, political science students — in their study titled “Assessing the Impact of Local Government Policies on Community-Based Solid Waste Management Initiative: A Phenomenological Inquiry” — noted that “weak policy enforcement, insufficient infrastructure, and ineffective collection systems contribute significantly to the ongoing waste management crisis” in Davao City.
“There is no reason for it to be neglected, but it continues to be undervalued, mainly due to weak policy implementation. These flaws not only hinder public health and environmental sustainability but also compromise the City’s potential for long-term urban resilience,” their study said.
Sinangote and Sun, in an interview, told MindaNews that the city was aware as early as 2020 that the sanitary landfill was already at full capacity, yet the situation persists in 2025 “without sufficient and efficient strategies” to reduce the volume of garbage going to the landfill.
Sun told MindaNews that despite national and local laws, enforcement remains the primary obstacle, but added that the laws need “more teeth.”
They were even surprised that there are only a few articles and researches involving Davao City’s sanitary landfill dilemmas.
Republic Act 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) and City Ordinance No. 0361-10, also known as Davao City Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance of 2009,
mandate segregation at the source, but Sun said compliance is “non-formal and inconsistent” because some barangays are “not empowered” by the local government.
“Empower the barangays. The law states the barangays are mandated to have their spaces for [materials recovery facilities or] MRFs. We also recommend that residual wastes and other wastes must have different garbage collection days… The government must provide the necessary tools and incentives to boost or to optimize initiatives and let the citizens practice,” Sun said.
For Sinangote, there are ways that the government can help empower the barangays — like helping them acquire garbage trucks or to fund for their localized garbage collection through construction of MRFs.
Addressing the ‘long overdue’ tag
City officials interviewed by MindaNews all agree that the need for a new landfill in Davao City is a “long-standing and critical issue” as the existing New Carmen sanitary landfill has been over capacity since at least 2016.
Engr. Lakandula Orcullo, environmental waste and management division head at the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), admitted that the current landfill, which has a projected lifespan of 10 years, has already operated for approximately 15 years due to the lack of a new facility.
“Ideally, that should not be the case. But we don’t have a choice as of now. We have to do our best to accommodate the city’s garbage collection,” he said.
However, Orcullo stressed that there is a new landfill site being constructed.
The city government, he said, has set aside ₱340 million for the Phase 1 or the expansion of the landfill, which will be just beside the existing landfill. Construction is currently at 70-percent completion, Orcullo added. The city’s 2023 budget, he said, had allotted an additional ₱219 million for the Phase 2 of the project, intended for road networks and perimeter fences.
He admits, however, that the landfill being constructed could only accommodate five years’ worth of garbage, or maybe even for a shorter period, depending on the city’s garbage collection.
He stressed that the current situation underscores the urgent need for long-term strategies as the cost of managing waste, including using trucks and fuel, is enormous, as the city needs about 150 trucks to bring in garbage to the landfill every day.
Orcullo said the landfill could accommodate between 753 and 851 tons a day as of October 2025, or an average of 800 tons, a “dramatic” increase from 385 tons in 2010. He attributes it to the increase of population in the city.
“Once the new landfill is completed and operational, the existing landfill will undergo closure, which involves procedures like covering it with soil,” Orcullo said.
Meanwhile, Marc Dennis Serrano, health and sanitation division chief of the City Health Office, said that scavengers should not be allowed in the sanitary landfill area because it is inherently dirty and poses significant health risks, such as respiratory diseases, bacterial infections, punctures, and potential cases of fever.
He said that the landfill overcapacity has led to leakage of liquid waste (called leachate) that has penetrated the ground and is now reaching nearby creeks and bodies of water.
This pollution, Serrano admits, poses significant health risks and environmental impacts downstream. The CHO, he says, receives complaints regarding this leakage and the resulting nuisance, but there are not enough people affected to cause an outbreak.
Lemuel Manalo, program coordinator of the Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), quoted a University of the Southeastern Philippine study conducted by Moises Torrentira Jr. and Abegail Olita titled “Water Quality Assessment of Upstream Matina River at New Carmen, Tugbok District, Davao City,” which stated that the pollution can be generally attributed to various “anthropological or industrial activities in the Matina River area… where the Matina River traverses … Barangay New Carmen… where the Davao City Sanitary Landfill is located.”
He said the practices associated with the sanitary landfill have led to environmental concerns, specifically affecting the water quality of the river, which would make the river “at risk.”
“Basically, the landfill is a risk near our waters, which could potentially affect our water systems and water quality in the city,” Manalo said.
‘Circular economy’ needed for less Davao trash
For Errol John Denosta, project evaluation officer of the City Planning and Development Office, adopting the “circular economy” approach can be a strategy to lessen trash in the city.
Even the World Health Organization acknowledges this approach as a system where individuals would keep materials in use for as long as possible instead of throwing them away.
WHO cited the Ellen McArthur Foundation in defining the cycle, in which “products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting.”
Currently, Denosta said that the city is still under a “linear approach,” where waste goes directly to trash, then will go to the landfills, and that’s the end of the waste cycle.
Manalo agrees with the “circular economy” approach, saying that this could convince Dabawenyos to properly handle materials so that only non-reusable wastes reach the sanitary landfill.
Manalo said with proper training and resources, the government and other concerned stakeholders can teach residents the differences between residual, recyclable, biodegradable, non-biodegradable materials, among others.
“In a circular approach, it’s not just the waste that will go linear, or just end up in landfills. Most waste will be recycled, rebranded, repaired, refurbished, and will be shared, depending on how [waste] materials will be used,” Manalo told MindaNews in an interview.
But for scavengers like Estandarte, a “good plan” by the city government means they will be involved in the process.
“Kung kami makatabang sa pag resiklo ug sa kinaiyahan, ug kami mokita sab ana, maapil mi ana, nganong dili man?” (If we can help in recycling, and help nature, and earn something at the same time, why not?), she said.
However, Estandarte questioned if there will be places for them to really store their recyclables, as she is skeptical it might just be another “lavish” government spending.
Dubad, meanwhile, said while the city has still not implemented the “circle economy” approach, he will continue to collect materials at the dumpsite.
“Nakatabang man sad mi sa pag-recycle sa basura. Among ginabaligya ni sila sa junk shop kay kabalo mi i-recycle man na sa mga gusto pod mopalit ana” (We’re also helping in recycling garbage. We’re selling them to the junk shop because we know these will also be recycled by the buyers), he said. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
This story is published with the support of Canal France International under the Media for One Health program.
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