JICA drums up use of Japanese company’s composting facility piloted in Legazpi City��

THE JAPAN International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is promoting the adoption of Japanese company Okada Manufactory Co. Ltd.’s waste-to-fertilizer technology, which has been piloted in Legazpi City.������

The composting facility converts organic wastes into fertilizers that farmers in the city, which is still 49% farmland, are able to use.��

JICA, in a statement on Friday following a recent organic solid waste management conference, said the technology has also allowed the Legazpi City government to process wastes faster and save costs spent on managing sanitary landfills.������

“I am proud to say that the City Government of Legazpi has sustainably addressed this problem by having this project of putting up the composting facility in Barangay Banquerohan, which is considered first in Bicol region, if not in the country” Legazpi City Mayor Carmen Geraldine Rosal is quoted in the statement.������

The Okada technology is being introduced under JICA’s Private Sector–Sustainable Development Goals Business Supporting Survey, where Japanese companies share ideas and technology to solve social problems.��������

“JICA works with the Japanese private sector to further boost the socioeconomic growth of our partner countries like the Philippines,” said Shimizu Mikako, senior representative of JICA.����

“It’s a win-win relationship because the Philippines benefits from Japanese innovations with social impact while Japanese companies are able to stimulate future investments,” she added.����

Local government units are mandated to “divert at least 25% of all solid waste from waste disposal facilities” under Section 20 of Republic Act No. 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.����

A study conducted by Save Our Future Foundation, Inc. for the period 1998 to 2020 shows each person in Bicol generates an average of 0.196 kilograms of waste daily.������

The region’s solid waste accumulated rose 35.6% to 443, 807.17 metric tons (MT) in 2020 from 327,219.68 MT in 1998.����

Through the composting facility, waste processing rate is expected to increase “as much as 20 times” from previous years, JICA said.��

Under the JICA program, other Japanese companies are also working with local governments and organizations on disaster-resilient infrastructure, math education, and public health, among others. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera