Group seeks action on Davao’s mounting garbage crisis
DAVAO CITY—An environmental group has called attention to “a critical waste management crisis” facing this city, Mindanao’s largest and premier urban center, two weeks after a mound of garbage in its sanitary landfill facility collapsed and buried three people.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the nongovernment group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (Idis) noted that “uncollected garbage (is) accumulating in streets and communities” in the city of some 1.8 million people.
“This stark reality demands immediate attention and responsibility,” the group pointed out.
The city’s solid waste management system was disrupted after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources suspended the operation of the landfill in Barangay New Carmen starting May 22, two days after a trash slide that buried 15 houses.
The incident on May 20 resulted in two confirmed deaths and one still missing.
The suspension of landfill operations was intended to allow time for the city government to institute stabilization measures for the mounting garbage in the facility.
Worsening flooding
At least 750 tons of garbage are dumped there every day.
With no final disposal site available for collected garbage, barangay governments had asked residents to keep their garbage inside their homes in the meantime until landfill operations resume.
But many households are not able to bear the temporary measure, as mounds of trash in plastic bags are dumped on several street corners in different parts of the city.
“The irony is also difficult to ignore. While the city celebrates Duaw (Visit) Davao this June and welcomes visitors, many streets remain visibly burdened by uncollected waste. Environmental Month and city celebrations lose meaning when everyday environmental conditions on the ground tell a different story,” Idis emphasized.
“With the onset of the southwest monsoon, the risks are even more severe. Uncollected garbage is easily washed into the drainage systems and waterways during heavy rains, worsening flooding in vulnerable communities and creating avoidable public health hazards,” it added.
Idis said the landfill tragedy “exposed deep, long-standing failures in the city’s waste management system.”
“For years, the same cycle has persisted: waste accumulation, flooding, public health risks, repeated recommendations and limited structural change. This reflects a need for stronger, sustained action. A key solution lies in strengthening community-based waste management,” the group said.
“Environment Month should be a reminder that real environmental leadership is measured by conditions on the ground, not by campaigns or celebrations but by clean streets, functional systems and resilient communities,” it added.
