The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has completed the closure of the 335 open dumpsites all over the country after Secretary Roy A. Cimatu ordered the strict enforcement of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Open dumpsites are those where solid waste is deposited without planning and consideration for environmental and health standards and are illegal to establish or operate, based on RA 9003.

“This is a victory for the environment and the DENR,” said Cimatu on the long overdue closure of open dumpsites.

“Despite the limitations brought about by the pandemic, our people never wavered in their sworn duty as public servants to get the job done,” he added.

Since 2017, the closure of dumpsites has been part of Cimatu’s commitment under the country’s solid waste management program.

It is also a testament of the political will of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his administration since it is only now, 20 years after the enactment of RA 9003 in 2001, that the closure has been fully accomplished.

Section 37 of the Act prohibits the use of open dumpsites for solid waste. It states that “No open dumps shall be established and operated, nor any practice or disposal of solid waste by any person, including LGUs, which constitutes the use of open dumps for solid waste, be allowed after the effectivity of this Act.”

With the closure of all open dumpsites, LGUs have the option to bring their solid waste to existing sanitary landfills (SLF) or to a residual containment area.

A residual containment area is a temporary storage of their residual wastes while negotiating a Memorandum of Agreement with another LGU operating an SLF, finalizing a contract with a privately operated SLF, or awaiting operationalization of their own SLF.

There are 237 operational SLFs in the country and 11 are under construction.