The Irisan dump facility lies near the boundary of the City and the Municipality of Tuba, Benguet and was opened sometime on 1973. The burning and   spillover of wastes are perennial occurrences at the dump.  Numerous resolutions from Barangay Tadiangan, the Municipality of Tuba and the Provincial Government of Benguet were passed as regards to the operation of the dump. The concrete retaining wall constructed sometime 1997 at the down slope portion of the facility   was breached and aggravated due to the burning and the continuous dumping of wastes.

On April 2007, the City, thru the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) prepared the closure and rehabilitation plan of the Irisan dumpsite ( Project Title: Interim Disposal Facility, Irisan, Baguio City, July 2007) and awarded the project to a private contractor. 

            On July 15, 2008, threatened with garbage slides and seeing no end to the continuous delivery of fresh wastes to the dump which affected the implementation of the closure works, the Irisan residents barricaded the dump and denied   the entry of the City?s collection vehicles.   This forced the City to close the dump and haul wastes to Metro Clark Sanitary Landfill at Capas, Tarlac.

            The City continued to haul wastes to Capas, Tarlac for almost three (3) years, from July 2008 to April 2011.  In between, were gaps in the hauling as the City ran out of funds in the hauling cost and in the delay of the approval of the City Council of hauling cost.  Within the same period, the City Government continue to implement the closure and rehabilitation works at the dump and disposed wastes at some void portions of the dump created by their closure activities. On April 11, 2011, the City ceased hauling wastes to the Metro Clark Sanitary Landfill at Capas, Tarlac.

On October 2009, to fully close and rehabilitate the Irisan dump facility, the City made revisions of the closure plan. Integral component of the plan is the construction of a wall that would expand an area within the down slope southern portion of the dump.   (Project Title: Irisan Dumpsite Rehabilitation) Subsequently, on November 13, 2009; the City Government requested the National Solid Waste Management Commission-Secretariat (NSWMC-S) for the use of the expanded area using residuals as backfilling materials.

            During the onslaught of typhoon ?Mina? on August 27, 2011; a trash slide occurred at the Irisan garbage dump facility within Purok 17, Irisan, Baguio City.  The portion of the retaining wall at the dump collapsed and about 30,000 tons of wastes cascaded two hundred (200) meters into a gulley and down to Km. 5, Asin Road, Baguio City.

This caused the death of six (6) persons and about twenty (20) residential houses and make shifts were damaged.  The wastes also blocked the Asin Road and was closed to traffic for four (4) days. Public health issues as well as environmental concerns attributed to the trashslide are continuously being raised by residents and different sectors of Baguio City and Tuba, Benguet.    

     Credits to (http://www.margaritastation.com/readfull.php?m=575)

Credits to (https://alchetron.com/Irisan,-Baguio)

The City of Baguio has always been a priority by The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera Administrative Region (DENR-CAR)  on Ecological  Solid Waste Management (ESWM) even prior to the passage of RA 9003 ( The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000)  Together with the NSWMC-S, the  closure of the waste dump was aggressively  pushed as this was perceived as the ultimate solution to  the perennial problems brought about by  the issues raised of adjoining LGUs. Notification Letters were sent to the City, both from the NSWMC-S and the Regional Office  reminding the City Government on their compliance of section 37 of RA 9003.   ?.. No open dumpsite shall be established?.?.the prohibition on open dumping?.

 

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http://car.denr.gov.ph/

http://mauriciodomogan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=443:city-scrambles-to-rehabilitate-dump-site&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irisan,_Baguio

The pictures below are during our Environmental & Sanitary Engineering Educational Tour way back in 2013, two (2) years after typhoon mina hits Irisan Dumpsite.: