Fast developing urban areas like Angeles City, City of San Fernando, Tarlac City and others in Central Luzon are challenged by the growing social costs brought about by economic activities in the area. And the most problematic concern is the issue of solid waste management.
Good thing though for the City of San Fernando, Mayor Oscar Rodriguez started early on their campaign on solid waste management as soon as he assumed office in 2004.
Today, the city has a very successful solid waste management program with its own material recovery facility (MRF), which also serves as a center for production of organic fertilizer.
MRF is a solid waste transfer station or sorting station, drop-off center, composting facility and recycling facility. Under the Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, in the absence of a landfill, local government units are encouraged to start maintaining MRFs.
In Angeles City, the EMS-DPS office headed by Dherly Valencia is now strengthening its campaign for waste segregation and recycling if only to address the growing problem on garbage.
I got some reports that the Kalangitan Landfill gave an ultimatum to the city government for it to pay its arrears or else it will cut down the volume of garbage deposited by Angeles from 11 trucks to four trucks daily only. This would mean grave problem for Valencia and her team because they will have to look for a place where to dump the excess seven trucks of garbage collected around the city.
The only solution here is for the Angeles City to pay its arrears that allegedly reached P57 million. I encourage the city government to send statistics to Punto so the public may know how these arrears were accumulated and from what year or month that we have been delinquent in payment.
Meanwhile, I would like to help the EMS-DPS office in their campaign for waste segregation so we could cut our wastes from the household by half. Biodegradable materials can be used for producing organic fertilizers while non-biodegradable can be sold to junk shops for recycling.
In our recent visit at the Angeles EMS-DPS office and MRF facility, I was very thankful to learn that Valencia’s team already adopted a new technology in producing organic fertilizer. Instead of using the conventional effective microorganisms (EMs), the group is now using a new recipe for its experimental decomposting process.
Jojo Claveria, the resident MRF expert at EMS-DPS, said the new EMs recipe that is being mixed with shredded biodegradables is composed of rice wash (piunyaban), fresh milk and molasses.
He also shared the secret of the EMs recipe, the procedure in preparing it. For the interested farmers who want to produce their own organic fertilizer, follow these steps: (1) pour rice wash into a container until it is half-filled; (2) cover the container with cloth or any material that will allow air to get inside the container and (3) put the container in a place with no direct sunlight.
Then (4) allow the rice wash to ferment from 5-14 days (riceban, which smells sour, will form a film on the surface of the rice wash); (5) skim off the rice bran film and transfer the remaining fermented rice wash to a bigger container.
Then (6) add milk ten times the amount of the remaining fermented rice wash. (the fermented liquid is infected with different microbes including lacto bacilli, which is what we want to get. The addition of fresh milk to the fermented rice wash will eliminate the other micro organisms leaving pure lacto bacilli; (7) let the milk rice wash solution stand for another 5 to 7 days (a yellow liquid will then form a film on the surface; (8) skim off the yellow film. The remaining liquid is the pure lactic bacteria serum, which is already for use.
To store serum for later use, add an equal amount of molasses to the serum (this will keep the bacteria alive at room temperature) and to use, dilute one litre of serum with 20 litres untreated water.
Put the shredded organic material in an enclosure that is protected from sunlight and evenly spray the solution layer by layer up to four feet high. Let it decompose for 60 days until the organic fertilizer is ready for harvest. One indication that the fertilizer is ready is when there are no more maggots in the material.
Let us help the EMS-DPS solve the growing problem of garbage in Angeles City. Each resident can help by properly managing our own garbage at home. Let us start segregating and decompost biodegradables in our yards. Let us likewise recycle. It is not yet too late for Angelenos to start.
Good thing though for the City of San Fernando, Mayor Oscar Rodriguez started early on their campaign on solid waste management as soon as he assumed office in 2004.
Today, the city has a very successful solid waste management program with its own material recovery facility (MRF), which also serves as a center for production of organic fertilizer.
MRF is a solid waste transfer station or sorting station, drop-off center, composting facility and recycling facility. Under the Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, in the absence of a landfill, local government units are encouraged to start maintaining MRFs.
In Angeles City, the EMS-DPS office headed by Dherly Valencia is now strengthening its campaign for waste segregation and recycling if only to address the growing problem on garbage.
I got some reports that the Kalangitan Landfill gave an ultimatum to the city government for it to pay its arrears or else it will cut down the volume of garbage deposited by Angeles from 11 trucks to four trucks daily only. This would mean grave problem for Valencia and her team because they will have to look for a place where to dump the excess seven trucks of garbage collected around the city.
The only solution here is for the Angeles City to pay its arrears that allegedly reached P57 million. I encourage the city government to send statistics to Punto so the public may know how these arrears were accumulated and from what year or month that we have been delinquent in payment.
Meanwhile, I would like to help the EMS-DPS office in their campaign for waste segregation so we could cut our wastes from the household by half. Biodegradable materials can be used for producing organic fertilizers while non-biodegradable can be sold to junk shops for recycling.
In our recent visit at the Angeles EMS-DPS office and MRF facility, I was very thankful to learn that Valencia’s team already adopted a new technology in producing organic fertilizer. Instead of using the conventional effective microorganisms (EMs), the group is now using a new recipe for its experimental decomposting process.
Jojo Claveria, the resident MRF expert at EMS-DPS, said the new EMs recipe that is being mixed with shredded biodegradables is composed of rice wash (piunyaban), fresh milk and molasses.
He also shared the secret of the EMs recipe, the procedure in preparing it. For the interested farmers who want to produce their own organic fertilizer, follow these steps: (1) pour rice wash into a container until it is half-filled; (2) cover the container with cloth or any material that will allow air to get inside the container and (3) put the container in a place with no direct sunlight.
Then (4) allow the rice wash to ferment from 5-14 days (riceban, which smells sour, will form a film on the surface of the rice wash); (5) skim off the rice bran film and transfer the remaining fermented rice wash to a bigger container.
Then (6) add milk ten times the amount of the remaining fermented rice wash. (the fermented liquid is infected with different microbes including lacto bacilli, which is what we want to get. The addition of fresh milk to the fermented rice wash will eliminate the other micro organisms leaving pure lacto bacilli; (7) let the milk rice wash solution stand for another 5 to 7 days (a yellow liquid will then form a film on the surface; (8) skim off the yellow film. The remaining liquid is the pure lactic bacteria serum, which is already for use.
To store serum for later use, add an equal amount of molasses to the serum (this will keep the bacteria alive at room temperature) and to use, dilute one litre of serum with 20 litres untreated water.
Put the shredded organic material in an enclosure that is protected from sunlight and evenly spray the solution layer by layer up to four feet high. Let it decompose for 60 days until the organic fertilizer is ready for harvest. One indication that the fertilizer is ready is when there are no more maggots in the material.
Let us help the EMS-DPS solve the growing problem of garbage in Angeles City. Each resident can help by properly managing our own garbage at home. Let us start segregating and decompost biodegradables in our yards. Let us likewise recycle. It is not yet too late for Angelenos to start.
