Households told to have compost pits
City officials recently requested the one hundred twenty-eight barangays and households to have compost pits or bins where their biodegradable waste may be disposed of or whatever is feasible to lessen waste and garbage generation in the city.
Under Resolution NO. 688, series of 2023, local legislators stated that the city government earlier urged residents and business owners in the city to adopt their backyard composting methods and technologies to lessen the biodegradable waste production and that it is high time to instill the practice of composting their biodegradable waste.
Further, concerned departments were tasked to prepare business owners along Session road for the new composting requirement which the city government intends to impose soon as every business, especially restaurants, should have their composting facility and even the City General Services Office was directed to share information on simple composting methods that can be done by business people and residents.
During the Senior Citizens Official for a Day (SCOFAD) session held on October 9, 2023, the SCOFAD Council adopted the proposal of SCOFAD Councilor Josepha D. Gamsawen that requested barangays and households to have compost pits or compost bins where their biodegradable waste may be disposed of or whatever is feasible for that matter in order to lessen waste and garbage generation in the city.
The body claimed that as of 2018, the city government has spent over P1 billion to manage and haul garbage to the private sanitary landfill in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan and Capas, Tarlac.
Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 required that residents manage their biodegradable waste by having their own compost pits or bins.
According to the resolution, backyard composting is the obligation of residents under the pertinent provisions of the law to help the concerned government agencies and local governments address the garbage disposal concerns in their areas of jurisdiction and at the same time, residents can go into urban gardening in their homes using the compost soil they can produce for the said purpose. – Dexter A. See
