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Pagadian
From the
Dirtiest to Cleanest and Greenest City in the Region
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Anna Marie Guerra Science
Research Specialist,
DOST IX
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It was in
1998 when Pagadian City was adjudged the Dirtiest Component
City in the Philippines by the Clean and Green Program of the
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Taking it as
a challenge, the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Pagadian City,
through the late Mayor Benjamin F. Arao, formed a Technical
Working Group on Solid Waste Management, of which the
Provincial Science and Technology Center (PSTC) of the DOST-IX
became a permanent member.
The
Technical Working Group, together with the LGU of Pagadian
City, then spearheaded an information and education campaign
by conducting various seminars on Solid Waste Management to
local leaders and non-government organizations through DOST’s
Science and Technology Expert Volunteers’ Pool Program.
In 1999, an
Ecology Center was established in the city. There
biodegradable wastes were segregated and turned into compost
using trichoderma, a labor-intensive technology which produced
a foul odor. Nevertheless, the opening of the center was in
itself an achievement, making Pagadian City the only LGU in
the region segregating its solid waste.
The better
news is that since the establishment of the Ecology Center,
the city had been, for five (5) consecutive years now, the
cleanest and greenest component city in the region. It also
became a National Finalist of the Clean and Green Program of
DILG, the very same program which adjudged it as the Dirtiest
Component City in 1998.
Eight (8) months ago, the DOST-IX, through its Local
Grants-in-Aid (GIA) Project, has donated to the LGU a
Bioreactor developed by the Industrial Technology and
Development Institute (ITDI) for the composting of solid
wastes. Considered to be a better technology, the Bioreactor
now produces 500 kilos of sanitary and odorless compost daily,
which accounts for 73% of the biodegradable solid wastes in
the city.
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