By Leilanie G. Adriano(Staff Reporter)
LAOAG CITY—The city government here is eyeing the establishment of an organic composting facility in a three-hectare idle lot located at Brgy. Camangaan, this city.
The organic composting facility aims to reduce the volume of wastes being generated in the city as the collected biodegradable wastes will be converted as organic fertilizer for farmers.
Laoag mayor Michael M. Keon said this is a welcome development for all Laoag residents as the project is expected to create more jobs and to prolong the lifespan of the city landfill.
"The proposed site will be put up on a 3-hectare lot offered by the family of Virgil Corpuz, uncle of our OIC provincial environment and natural resources officer, Estrella “Baby” Sacro, subject to a usufruct agreement, which will be effective for a period of 25 years and may be renewed thereafter,” said Mr. Keon.
In addition to the organic composting facility, the city will also host a plastic recycling and recovery facility (PRRF) and material recovery facility (MRF) under a PHP25.5 million grant from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
"The good thing about this project is that, out of the four provinces that received such grant from DENR, Ilocos Norte will be the first province in the country to implement such programs while the other provinces diverted theirs to different projects,” he added.
On November 5, 2020, Mr. Keon along with the city and provincial government representatives conducted an ocular inspection at the proposed project site and expressed their full support to the project.
In January this year, the DENR granted the amount to the provincial government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) to fund the construction of a plastic recycling and resource recovery facility (PRRF) at Brgy. Imelda in Marcos, Ilocos Norte.
But during the final bidding process, Marcos town mayor Antonio Mariano backed out citing his small town cannot be a host to all the trash generated by the province.