BAGUIO CITY – The city general services office is fastracking the repair of the two Environmental Recycling System (ERS) machines based in the old Irisan dumpsite to allow the continuous conversion of some forty-five tons of biodegradable waste into compost fertilizer for the use of organic farmers.
City General Services Officer Romeo D. Concio said wielding works are being done inside the boiler of one of the ERS machines but it has been difficult to do such works without added measures to ensure the safety of wielders that is why it took some time for them to complete the repair works.
“We are about to complete the repair works in one of our ERS machines while we are half processing the biodegradable waste being brought to the area as well as the spraying of deodorizer to remove the foul odor in the area,”Concio stressed.
The city official said the complaint of the residents on the foul odor emanating from the unprocessed biodegradable waste has been contained and that they are continuously monitoring the situation of the ERS machines so that appropriate immediate repair works could be done in case problems arise while processing is on-going.
According to him, the ERS machines had always been operational in the conversion of the city’s biodegradable waste into compost fertilizer since it was purchased by the city government sometime in 2011 contrary to what had been projected during the election period by some of the critics of the city’s leadership that the machines were no longer operational.
He said the city is trying its best to make one of the machines fully operational before the end of the week so that the generated biodegradable waste will not pile up in the closed dumpsite and for the continuity of the availability of supply of the compost fertilizer which is slowly being hauled out of the area by interested suppliers of the agriculture department.
It was learned that the two ERS machines can convert some 48 tons of biodegradable waste into compost fertilizer daily and of the total volume of garbage being fed into the machines, it produces some 30 percent high grade compost fertilizer.
The operation of the ERS machines will be part of the latest technologies of environmentally-friendly methods of garbage disposal that will be included in the city’s projected integrated solid waste disposal facility which will be situated either in the 139-hectare city-owned property in Sto. Tomas School area, or in the Antamok open pit site of the Benguet Corporation in Itogon, Benguet.
Aside from the conversion of the city’s biodegradable waste into compost fertilizer and the taking of recyclable waste by volunteers of the city, the generated residual waste is being hauled out of the city to the sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac where more or less 130 tons of residual waste are being shipped out daily by the city’s hauler.
By Dexter A. See
