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Mayor’s office collected over 120K cubic yards of Yutu debris
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Posted on Feb 28 2019
The Saipan Mayor’s Office yesterday noted that according to their records, they had been able to collect over 120,000 cubic yards of Super Typhoon Yutu debris since starting their cleanup efforts two days right after the super typhoon in late October 2018.
Starting on Oct. 26, 2018, Saipan Mayor’s Office director of field operations Joann Aquino told Saipan Tribune, that their office was able to collect a total of 121,702 cubic yards of Super Typhoon Yutu debris from the roadside and sent it to the As Gonno staging area for processing.
Aquino noted that the debris collected was a mixture of types of debris, since the Federal Emergency Management Agency noted that the mayor’s office may only pick up debris that are segregated into either green waste or plants, logs, leaves, and trees; construction debris such as lumber, drywall, plywood, concrete, plumbing, carpets, furniture, broken windows, and mattresses; and metal debris such as tin roofing.
The office reached the 100,000 cubic yards of Super Typhoon Yutu debris mark in early February 2019 and just concluded the pick-up program last Feb. 24, 2019 at Afetna. To put into perspective, a mid-sized car is about 5 cubic yards.
According to Saipan Mayor’s Office records, they have collected an average of at least 3,000 cubic yards of debris a week and peaked at 11,582 cubic yards of debris collected in January 2019.
Now that the debris collection is over, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang noted that his office would not be involved with debris collection and deliver to the As Gonno staging area anymore.
“We still find a lot of debris as we go around,” he said, reiterating that his office had been constantly posting deadline dates for the debris collection. “…And yet they continue to put out debris on the road,” he said.
“We are not picking up anymore roadside debris. Those people who are putting out household trash need to take it to the landfill,” he continued.
Aquino added that the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality was looking to “strictly enforce” the 1989 Anti-Littering Act, which included fines relative to the degree of violation.
