CMRF In Brgy. Sinawal, General Santos City: Ph First Large-Scale Mechanized Material Recovery Facility

The BAT & BEP Project, which was implemented from April 2015 to June 2022 with funding support from the Global Environment Facility and United Nations Industrial Development Organization, aimed to create resource-efficient waste management systems in order to reduce the release of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) from open burning activities. One of the interventions of the project is the establishment of the Central Materials Recovery Facility (CMRF) in Brgy. Sinawal, General Santos City.
 
The CMRF is the Philippines’ first large-scale mechanized material recovery facility which can process 40 tons of waste per day. The CRMF is equipped with a waste conveyor and segregator, compartments for segregated recyclable waste, a plastic shredder, bottle crusher, cement and plastic mixer, cement bricks maker, biodegradable granulator, gantry mixer, and bio-vibrator/separator machine. This modernized MRF system allows the conversion of plastics into bricks/concrete pavers, and organic wastes into compost, and sells recovered recyclables (e.g., metals, paper, and cardboard) as additional sources of income.
 
Based on the data from the Waste Management Office of General Santos City, the CMRF was able to collect a total of 427.85 tons of waste from January 2019 to August 2023. From its operation, 16.86 tons of waste was successfully diverted and formed into concrete pavers and compost. The facility produced 6,659 bricks/concrete pavers and 98,430 kilograms of compost. The price of an eco brick is pegged at Php 80 to Php 100 per piece1, it can be approximated that Php 532,720 to Php 665,900 can be earned from producing these bricks. Moreover, the environmental benefits of the rehabilitation of the Tambler dumpsite and the establishment of the CMRF in Brgy. Sinawal will potentially reduce the emission of dioxins and furans by 97.82% from 8,099 mgTEQ/year to 177 mgTEQ/year2. However, these figures will still be subjected to validation.

 1Sourced from Philippine News Agency (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1121227)
 2Sourced from BAT&BEP Project Completion Report