Fukuoka landfill eyed for Tinian

Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz recently returned from Hawaii where he met with officials of the Marine Corps Forces Pacific or MarForPac and Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 to talk about alternative options on how the island will handle potential solid wastes from increased military activity.

Dela Cruz told Saipan Tribune Friday that the discussions specifically focused on what is called the Fukuoka method.

“I met with MarForPac and [EPA’s Lawrence] Gostin to discuss the Fukuoka method, a model that they implemented in American Samoa and various districts in Micronesia,” Dela Cruz said.

The Fukuoka method was one of three options identified by MarForPac, EPA, the Tinian Mayor’s Office, Department of Public Works, and Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality during a recent ad hoc committee meeting.

The Fukuoka method is a semi-aerobic landfill, where the leachate is collected in a leachate-collecting pond through a perforated pipe set in graded boulders.

Dela Cruz said the meeting only discussed this alternative option.

Two other options are the incineration of some bio-waste generated by the military or bringing the waste to Saipan to the Marpi landfill.

Dela Cruz also said he is now working with the military to designate one particular site for the landfill—a lot smaller than the current landfill Tinian has.

He recently met with Department of Public Lands Secretary Pete Tenorio to identify various sites suitable for a landfill and found out that there are two sites available within the military leased area.

Dela Cruz said the off-island disposal option is the easiest. This was proposed at the ad hoc committee meeting—to utilize the existing Marpi landfill.

“That is one other option; to help Saipan finish its third cell [not completed] and any debris that they we have [on Tinian] can be transported to Saipan and the Department of Defense will assist us in transferring it to Saipan,” he said.

In light of these three options, Dela Cruz said that building a transfer station is important.

The transfer station was a proposal under the CNMI Capital Improvement Projects Program Office grant funding provided by the Department of the Interior’s Affairs on Office of Insular Affairs, in which CIP proposed to build a solid waste transfer station on Tinian.

“All in all, the construction of the transfer station is going to minimize the footprint of the landfill because if you do extensive recycling at the end of the day you minimize the volume of the trash,” he said.