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[av_heading heading=’ URBAN FARMER ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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Monday, September 4, 2017
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THE LOCAL government of Bacolod City is set to intensify its Solid Waste Management Program in compliance to Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
This development came after Mayor Evelio “Bing” R. Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid M. Familiaran recently receivedsome 14 units of shredders that the city government purchased from R. U. Foundry and Machine Shop Corporation for the city’s Solid Waste Management Program.
The 14 units of shredders will be distributed to the different barangays for the implementation of the city’s waste management program.
With these equipment, the city government of Bacolod is expected to strictly implement its “No Segregation, No Collection” policy, where there will be a separate container for each type of waste material from all sources.
Converting waste materials into compost will help in alleviating the problems of industrial wastes and community garbage disposal through appropriate methods of sorting, collecting, and composting.
Tons of biodegradable waste materials are produced in thecountry, which could be converted to organic fertilizer through composting.
The establishment of composting facilities, equipped with shredders and rotary composters, is found to be a very effective waste management practice, where the involvement of the local government units (LGUs) is crucial.
The program is expected to boost the institutional capacities of the LGUs like the local government of Bacolod in terms of sorting, collecting, and composting community wastes.
Even the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations says that composting can potentially divert up to 150 kilos of food waste per household per year from local collection authorities.
FAO says that we should compost all our wastes and bring them back to the soil, particularly here in the country, where 38 percent of our soils are already degraded.
Out of the Philippines’ total land area of 29.55 million hectares, 11.45 million hectares are “vulnerable areas” to land degradation or moderately to severely degraded, and 2.6 million hectares are “hotspots” or in an advanced stage of land degradation, based on a data from theBureau of Soils and Water Management.
Considering that a large amount of biodegradable wastes are also coming from private and public markets and residences, there is a need to set-up facilities near markets, trading posts and residential areas that will convert those waste materials into organic fertilizers/compost, which could be used by the local farmers.
Under Republic Act 9003, the primary goal of solid waste management is reducing and eliminating the adverse impacts of waste materials on human health and environment to support economic development and promote superior quality of life.
Segregation and collection of solid waste will be conducted at the barangay level specifically for biodegradable, compostable, and reusable wastes.
For the successful implementation of the “No Segregation, No Collection” policy, it is expected that the local government will be conducting a continuing education and information campaign on solid waste management which aims to develop public awareness on the ill-effects of and the community-based solutions to the solid waste problem./PN
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