AGRICULTURAL WASTE COMPOSTING: A … as RA 9003, which sets the framework and mandates all Local Government Units (LGUs) to formulate their respective 10-year SWM plan, convert their

AGRICULTURAL WASTE COMPOSTING: A PROMISING BUSINESS IN THE PHILIPPINES Augusto D. Camba Email: [email protected] and Engr. Reynante V. Maruquez Email: [email protected] Foundation for a Sustainable Society 46-E Samar Ave. cor. Eugenio Lopez St. South Triangle Quezon City, 1103 Philippines Abstract In the Philippines, despite the various local and national legislations related to waste management, composting activity remains marginal as most Filipinos do not have strong orientation on this type of waste management strategy. Indeed, of the 150-400 tons of waste being generated daily in major cities in the Philippines, 50% are biodegradable. Moreover, it is saddening that only 10% of these biodegradable wastes are collected and processed. The remaining 90% of these wastes are either hauled to dumpsites or dumped illegally to private lands, rivers and creeks. The catastrophic garbage slide incident that happened in Payatas dumpsite in Metro Manila in 2002, which killed more than 200 people living in the dumpsite, best describes how worst the waste management program in the Philippines. To effectively respond to the above SWM problems, FSSI developed a SWM program that aims to support various sustainable SWM activities in the Philippines. Under the theme “Waste is a Resource”, it has facilitated the setting up of the first city-wide composting facility in Baguio City as early as 2000 with a challenge to demonstrate that composting in the Philippines can be as lucrative as solid waste recycling. With the Baguio City Local Government and various civil society organizations as partners, the Baguio composting project, with a target capacity of processing 15 tons of vegetable waste, became FSSI’s first challenge to demonstrate to various LGUs and various SWM stakeholders in the Philippines that there is money in composting. This paper presents FSSI learning in building a city-wide composting project. Issues related to policy development and administration, technology development and transfer, and business management and marketing were looked into as these have direct effect in the success and failure of the project. Keywords: composting as a viable business, success factors in composting business, city-municipal based composting, technology development in composting, organic fertilizer market

INTRODUCTION

he deadline to close all dumpsites in the Philippines is over. But as of Feb

2006, a total of 996, out of some 1000

open and controlled dumpsites in the

country, are still operational. It looks like

Philippines LGUs are experiencing

difficulty in coping with the requirements of

the Ecological Solid Waste Management

(ESWM) Act of 2000 or maybe most of

them just don’t feel the rush to launch an effective solid waste management

program in their respective areas. Despite the enactment of the ESWM Act, also

known as RA 9003, which sets the framework and mandates all Local Government

Units (LGUs) to formulate their respective 10-year SWM plan, convert their open

dumpsites to controlled from 2004 to 2006 and thereafter shift to sanitary landfill, still

significant progress in the SWM system in the Philippines has yet to be seen.

Philippines is having a waste crisis. The catastrophic garbage slide incident in July

2000 in the Payatas dumpsite which left 205 dead

bodies and hundreds more missing illustrates the

severity of such waste crisis,

Likewise, the formulation of the 10-year Solid Waste

Management Plan is another important target in the act

which most LGUs failed to deliver. Recent report (as of

March 6, 2006) by the National Solid Waste

Management Commission or NSWMC (an agency

attached to the Department of Environment and Natural

Resources) shows that out of 1,608 LGUs (117 cities

and 1,491 municipalities) only 173 or 10.8% have formulated and submitted their

SWM plan for approval of the commission.

Every Filipino generates an average of 0.3 to 0.5 kilograms (kg) of waste daily which

is comparable with other low middle income countries. Following such computation,

T

some 24-40 thousand tons of waste are being generated daily by more than 80

million Filipinos. In view of the 2004 Asian Development Bank report that only 12%

of solid wastes in Metro Manila is being recycled and reused, the LGUs in the

metropolis region should need to multiply their efforts more than eight (8) times to

fully resolve the problem. Situation in other cities and municipalities is not far from

Manila and if such would not be acted upon the soonest time possible, it will certainly

blow-up to a proportion that is beyond their control. Effective and doable waste

management strategies in every city and municipality must be developed and

implemented now. And one of which is to intensify waste minimization program and

composting activities in various levels to reduce biodegradable wastes that are

thrown into the dumpsites.

The 2004 ADB study also reports that around 70-75% of wastes generated by

Filipino households are biodegradable and usually kitchen wastes and yard wastes.

Indeed, in Metro Manila alone it is estimated that over 2,000 tons of biodegradable

waste are generated daily. However, the few composting facilities in Metro Manila

can hardly process 10 tons of compost per day. And aside from the problem of low

capacity, most of these composting facilities do not operate viably as they only

generate income which amounts to some 50% the investment required to continue

composting activity, the reasons why this waste management strategy is difficult to

accelerate. Another problem is in the market for compost in Manila, being a highly

urbanized area, is limited. Quality of compost is also critical as there might be

contaminants that may enter the food supply chain.

Despite the odds attached to composting, the Foundation for a Sustainable Society

Incorporated took the challenge to demonstrate composting as a viable business

proposition to encourage more LGUs and stakeholders to follow suit. Taking this

challenge was inspired by a belief that composting plays a key role in minimizing

waste generation thus contributing significantly in solving the waste crisis. Moreover,

venturing to composting business is also a positive response to save the ailing

Philippine agricultural sector which could not compete with imported farm products

because of high cost of farm inputs that are mostly imported.

Following the above discussion, this paper intends to present the lessons learned by

FSSI from its initial experience in developing and city based composting project in

Baguio City. Albeit such project did not turn out to be perfect and 100% self-

sufficient model, such enabled FSSI to identify a list of key success indicators that

could guide other stakeholders in making their composting activities more

sustainable, cost-effective and financially rewarding. Thus, this paper also presents

how these factors influence the design of composting project of another LGU

situated in a province known as the “vegetable and salad bowl of the Philippines”,

Benguet Province.

FIRST CITY-WIDE COMPOSTING PROJECT: THE BAGUIO EXPERIENCE Background of the Project In 1998, the FSSI proposed to the Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation Inc (JVOFI) its plan

to pilot a city-wide composting project in Baguio City because of its being a major

tourist destination and worsening waste problem. At the onset, Baguio was a good

choice for such project because it is very close to Benguet; a major vegetable, cut

flower and strawberry producing province in the Philippines; which was targeted as

the main market for the composting projects.

From 1998-1999, with JVOFI taking the lead role, series of consultations, training

and promotional activities were conducted with various local stakeholders and the

City Government of Baguio as regards

improving the solid waste management

situation in the city. These series of

activities paved the way to the plan to pilot

a city-wide composting facility. Having a

dumpsite that was already beyond its full

capacity, the City Government of Baguio

agreed to the proposal of FSSI and JVOFI

to pilot a centralized composting on the condition that the latter will provide support

in the following areas such as technical, management, resource mobilization and

social preparation. And in October 1999; the FSSI, JVOFI and City Government of

Baguio entered into a memorandum of understanding to develop and construct a

composting facility by the city’s dumpsite area. Provisions in the agreement state

that the composting facility would have a capacity to process the biodegradable and

vegetable wastes being generated daily by the city’s public market. And because

FSSI was tasked to provide technical and technology support, it tapped the service

of a private firm Quadrant Engineering to be the technology provider and equipment

fabricator, to develop the composting design appropriate to the requirement of the

city. JVOFI, on the other hand, was tasked to provide social marketing and

community education support, and to mobilize additional financial resources from

various local NGOs, government agencies and international development

organizations. Aside from the three major partners substantial amount of resources

was sourced out from the Canada Fund, Japan Embassy Grant Assistance, DISOP-

Belgium, Philippine-German Foundation and the Foundation for Philippine

Environment.

The Establishment and Initial Operation of the Composting Plant At the onset, albeit the construction of the composting facility was set to be complete

in one year. The project design being the first to be constructed in the Philippines

experienced so much delay because there were

items which were found to be important but not

included in the original costing. One major cause

of delay was on the installation of required 3-

phase power line which took couple of years to

complete because the budget required for this

was quite big. Moreover, the delay was also

caused by unhealthy political dynamics among the city officials and inefficiencies in

the city government’s bureaucracy in terms of processing the release of its financial

contribution to the project. At last, after five years of waiting, the composting plant

was finally launched and made operational in Feb of 2004.

The composting facility was designed to process 15-20 tons of biodegradable and

vegetable wastes being generated daily by the city’s public market. However, during

the first two years of operation, the average recorded capacity of the plant was only

around three (3) to five (5) tons per day. Two major causes affected the low

production capacity, first is the space and the two silos (where the organic materials

are stocked for curing and aerobic digestion) allotted for curing is limited to absorb all

the organic materials prepared for curing and second is the limited and unstable

supply of vegetable wastes going to the composting plant.

The city officials who handle the solid waste management program reported that the

vegetable waste generation in the city’s public market has dropped dramatically from

15 to 20 tons to a maximum of five (5) tons per day as a result of the establishment

of a big trading post in La Trinidad, the next municipality after Baguio. The La

Trinidad vegetable trading post now serves as the new hub and marketing center of

all vegetables and other agricultural products from Benguet province which

significantly reduced the volume of vegetables going to Baguio City.

Considering that Baguio composting plant is a pilot project and the first of its kind in

the Philippines, a number of flaws were observed in the design and fabrication of

various composting equipment being used in the plant. This alarmed FSSI to tap

Don Bosco Center for Research and Training (DBCRT) in 2005, to do the following:

1) determine the actual capacity of the plant, 2) assess and prepare the blue print of

each of the equipment being used in the plant and 3) formulate recommendations

and retrofitting design to correct the flaws and upgrade the capacity and efficiency,

and standardize and make the operation environment friendly.

In terms of actual capacity, the DBCRT assessment validated that the plant has the

potential to process 26 tons of biodegradable waste. However, the production

capacity of the plant could be achieved only if more biodegradable waste from other

sources shall be collected and if the problem on limited space would be answered.

The DBCRT engineers report that construction of additional maturation bins is now

imperative to maximize the utilization and capacity of the composting plant.

As no composting facility in the Philippines has managed to process biodegradable

materials as high as Baguio, the partners believe that the implementation of

DBCRT’s upgrading and retrofitting plan is still a very relevant concern as far as

making composting activity; at the city and municipal level; more effective, cost

efficient and financially viable.

Composting Technology The Baguio composting facility is originally designed to

cater approximately 20 tons of biodegradable wastes

generated daily by the city. To meet this kind of

demand, a composting technology should be

appropriate, sound and innovative. After initial scanning

and validations sometime in 1999, the stakeholders of

the composting project agreed to set – up a silo-based composting plant for a

biodegradable waste-rich city. Various composting equipment (i.e. hopper/feeder

and crusher, conveyor system, shredder, mixer, silo, etc.) comprises the plant.

Limited space, volume of biodegradable wastes, temperature, capacity, and design

are all considered in the selection of the technology. Moreover, the innovations for

the technology make it a one-of-a-kind and the first ever to be tested and made

operational in the Philippines.

The composting technology starts with the hopper or feeder

where the bulk and sacked

vegetable wastes from the market

are all dropped before being

crushed by the crusher. A belt

conveyor catches and slowly transmits horizontally the

slightly crushed vegetables into the shredder. One

personnel applies the dry mass to the vegetable wastes, becoming the primary

substrates for composting, while being transported to the hopper of the shredder.

The dry mass is intended to (1) absorb moisture from the vegetable wastes, since

80-90% of the wastes’ composition is liquid, and (2) create a balance between the

nitrogen and carbon elements. The shredder further breaks the substrates into

smaller pieces to expose more surface area for decomposition. Shredded

substrates are hauled into the mixer by the screw conveyor linked between the two.

An inoculant, enhanced microorganisms released from a supply tank on top of the

mixer, is fused with the substrates resulting to secondary substrates to hasten

digestion. These secondary substrates are now ready for the aerobic process of

composting. The substrates exit the mixer and are brought up to the silo through a

bucket conveyor. All equipment are run by a three-phase electrical layout.

In usual practice for a silo-based composting, peak of decomposition usually takes a

minimum of 30 days to be fully composted (for thermophilic phase). With this in

mind, the silos, intended to take care of the volume requirement of vegetable wastes

and space considerations, are designed also to shorten the decomposition time and

control the temperature for composting vis-à-vis the Baguio climate. It is projected to

a 20 to 25 days decomposition time only, ready for curing and maturity stage before

sieving and packaging. Although the composting plant produces a competitive

compost quality, it only produces on a small scale. This is due to the additional

functions built on the silo to meet the adjustments on the composting process that

did not materialize aside from other equipment inefficiencies.

Technical Flaws As a continued patronage of FSSI with its SWM and enterprise development

projects, the documentation and further technology evaluation for the established

composting plant immediately followed when various technical problems started to

arise. One of which is the lack of documentation specifically on the engineering

works for the composting facility and equipment, hence,

FSSI tapped the DBCRT to conduct the following activities:

1. Document current system and design;

2. Evaluate current system and designs in terms of

structural and mechanical soundness, efficiency,

safeness, capacity, operations and work processes and environmental

impact;

3. Establish standard operating procedures and work processes to ensure

efficiency, productivity and safety;

4. Revise technology design and system as required to improve the factors in

#2; and

5. Establish a total productive maintenance program.

A budget sharing for the said activity prospered again along with the Baguio LGU

(through GSO during 2004) and JVOFI. The FSSI contributed Php 400,200.00 from

its grant facility to fill in the funding requirements of documentation and technology

evaluation. It took more than a year to complete the process documentation and

technical evaluation because various test runs had to be conducted and fixed screws

in the machines had caused delay in disassembling work. Other dumpsite hazards

also affected the working conditions of those assigned in to do the technical

documentation and evaluation work. A summary of the technical findings are listed

on the table below.

Criteria Findings

Plant Capacity • A truck load of 3.5 tons biodegradable waste

can be processed in 2 hours

• Considering no down time, the silo can only

hold up to 26 tons for two days operation

• Could not further increase tonnage of

biodegradable waste for processing due to

limited silo capacity; usually no operation after

silo has been filled up

Hopper/Feeder with built in

Crusher • Hopper/feeder is small compared to the amount

of waste being loaded

• Crusher is ineffective

Dry-Mass Application • Uneven application of the dry-mass

• Manual application

• No proper monitoring of the C:N ratio

Shredder • Vegetable wastes are shredded properly

• Standard compost size is around 1 ½‘ to 2’

• Compost substrates are porous

Mixer • Inoculant application is not regulated

Bucket Conveyor • The transfer of the mixed substrates from the

mixer to the bucket conveyor and from the

bucket conveyor to the silo needs to be

improved

Silo • The conveyor system on top of the silo needs

to be modified

• The screw conveyor (for dislodging composts

from the silo after retention period) is out of

specification

• Leachate (liquid from substrates if moisture

holding capacity is exceeded) management

needs improvement

• Re-installation of blowers and installation of

agitators to improve aeration

Compost Evaluation • Compost substrate stored in the silos is high in

moisture causing the substrates to be under

anaerobic process thus more pathogens

producing foul odors and more leachates

A separate group, still under supervision of the DBCRT, made a safety assessment

on the system and facility. Design and work hazards that can possible cause

accidents and appropriate and doable corrective measures were identified and

developed. One example of such work hazard is on the unloading of biodegradable

wastes to the hopper where accident can likely to happen because of the absence of

safety instructions and accessories attached to the hopper like safety markers and

barriers, protective grills and platform adjustments.

Calibration and Upgrading Requirements To go further on the efficiency, productivity and safety improvements, necessary

adjustments on the plant equipment and facilities should be made. It is another

project that entails additional budget requirement for the calibration and upgrade of

some equipment and facility. The budget requirement amounts to around Php.

250,000 excluding training on the total preventive maintenance. Nevertheless, the

stakeholders of the project were still keen on the success on the composting plant

and agreed that the Baguio LGU would finance the calibration and upgrading work

with the technical assistance from the DBCRT. Because the Baguio LGU had

agreed to finance 100% cost for calibration and upgrading work, some funds

allocated by the FSSI for calibration were realigned to provide technical support for

the development of the city’s 10-year Ecological Solid Waste Management Plan.

The calibration and upgrading needed for the various composting equipment include

the following:

1. Installation of hopper feeder extension and redesigning of crusher to

improve safety,

2. Installation of dry mass feeder in conveyor,

3. Conduct of minor repair to conveyor for easy maintenance,

4. Redesigning of inoccullant feeder to maintain certain regulations and

standard,

5. Installation of bucket conveyor canopy to significantly reduce substrate

spillage,

6. Replacement of silo bottom screw conveyor to make it more efficient,

7. Reinstallation of the blower and Installation of agitator in the silo to hasten

the decomposition process,

8. Installation of bunding around the silo to control leachate, and

9. Check silo covering for leakage.

Updates on Plant Upgrading

It is only this year (2006) when the FSSI, JVOFI and Baguio LGU have agreed to

conclude the composting partnership in Baguio City through the development and

finalization of a 10-year Ecological SWM (ESWM) plan which will institutionalize the

composting as one of the city’s major waste management strategies and serve as

anchor for other waste management strategies and efforts. Recognizing the

importance of the ESWM plan, FSSI and JVOFI agreed to the request of the city to

provide technical assistance. Thus, they tapped the Solid Waste Management

Association of the Philippines (SWAPP), to facilitate such SWM planning. For this

planning project, FSSI agreed to pay the consultancy fee of SWAPP (some Php.

400,000.00) and JVOFI also agreed to assist in the overall facilitation of the planning

process while the Baguio LGU agreed to allocate a budget amounting to

PhP.750,000.00 for other logistical requirements, workshops and documentation

works. Such plan was set to be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2006.

Improving Management and Marketing to Break Even The composting project in Baguio is a result of a multi stakeholder partnership, thus

it is only logical to operate the

composting plant under a co-

management scheme where every

partner plays a role and contributes to

the success of the plant. Such kind of

arrangement is what exactly

happened in Baguio from the time the

project was conceptualized in 1999

up to the present. Now that the final

calibration and retrofitting plan is about to be implemented, JVOFI and FSSI need to

go back again to drawing board to detail the mechanics on how the plant could

become at least 100% self sufficient.

Though there was no detailed business plan prepared when FSSI and JVOFI started

this project, it was clear in their minds that the composting plant will serve as an

experiment to establish and demonstrate the viability of a city-wide composting

project to encourage more stakeholders to follow suit. Thus, until now, FSSI and

JVOFI still hold and subscribe to the framework that the composting plant in Baguio

should be run like a business enterprise and should encourage active participation

from local residents to make it sustainable. To realize this, JVOFI has been

preparing the community cooperative, composed of scavengers, waste pickers and

waste processors working at the dumpsite area, to operate and manage the

composting plant. Indeed those who are working at the plant are all cooperative

members though they are presently being paid by the city government.

To date, the plant employs five workers who run its day to day operation. They are

being paid and considered casual employees of the city government. As to when will

the government subsidize the composting plant’s

operation still remains a question that has no clear

answer at this time. What is clear right now is that

the plant has been generating positive income

because the city government subsidizes 100% of its

day to day operating cost. Though this present

management system is entirely a reverse of the community and business like-

managed composting plant, it ensures continuous operation. For the time being that

the plant has not yet achieved full capacity, subsidy from the government will remain

a paramount concern.

Moreover, the composting plant’s performance in 2005 brought good indications that

city-wide composting could really be a financially viable business proposition.

Without any active marketing, the compost-fertilizers product of the plant has been

selling like hotcakes. After trying the product, a number of institutional buyers keep

on coming back to buy the compost-fertilizer from Baguio composting plant. If the

Baguio could only produce more, there would be more income going to support the

plants operation. The table below shows the list of buyers that are willing to buy the

compost plant’s product:

Interested buyers on the compost fertilizer product Demand/Yr. Baguio City Orchidarium 6,000 sacks

Baguio State University Ornamental Growers 2,500 sacks

DO Steak-Tomay Chicken Manure Outlet 1,200 sacks

10 Baguio Landscapers operating in Mines View and Orchidarium 20,000 sacks

Benguet Farmers MPCI & Buguias Farmers MPCI 2,000 sacks

DIY Shops 300 sacks

TOTAL DEMAND CREATED WITHOUT ACTIVE MARKETING 33,500 sacks at 50 kilos/sack

If the total effective demand of 33,500 sacks is served at a price of P150/sack, the

Baguio composting can generate a gross income of 5M pesos a year, a figure which

is more than enough to make the operation financially viable and sustainable.

However, to maximize its market potential and become more viable the Baguio

composting plant immediately needs to regulate its overhead cost, increase the

efficiency of its workers, and upgrade its composting capacity from 3.5 tons to at

least 5 tons level per day. Reaching such capacity level ensures that it can already

produce and sell the required 14,000 sacks of compost a year to break even.

With the City Government o Baguio now geared to follow the recommendation made

in the assessment study conducted by DBCRT in partnership with FSSI and JVOFI,

it looks like the future is bright for the Baguio composting plant to become a lucrative

business undertaking.

Lessons Learned from the Pilot Operation The following is the summary of the lessons learned from the Baguio composting

project by FSSI and JVOFI on how to make composting activity a productive

undertaking with LGU as a partner and a major stakeholder:

On Business Operation, Financial Management & Ownership

• Starting a composting project without a comprehensive business plan

developed based on realistic data and assumption is highly discouraged. The

plan should give accurate to guide the stakeholders of the project as regards

information on the market, technology and capacity required, project

ownership structure and management, investment requirement and financial

projection.

• Establishing a business culture in operation is highly encouraged in order to

make operation cost-effective with sound governance and clear levels of

accountability and authority among those engaged in operation.

• Sound business and financial management systems must be set in place at

the onset of the project operation to avoid inefficient and expensive operation.

• Proper valuation of contributions of various stakeholders should be done prior

to start of operation to quantify and determine which of the contributions

provided by various stakeholders are grant and investment.

On Technology, Capacity Target and Marketing

• A processing capacity of at least five tons of waste a day is an ideal size to

make composting self sufficient and financially viable.

• The composting technology should not be capital intensive but cost-effective

and efficient in terms of electrical consumption, labor requirements, and

maintenance.

• The theory of economy of scale and scope must be applied in designing a

City or municipal based composting. Operating a composting plant in Baguio

and other nearby municipalities with a processing capacity of less than five

tons per day may lead to expensive operation.

• Produce compost that will meet quality required by the farmers

• Conduct a price sensitivity analysis to establish a competitive price for the

compost product and so not to create distortion in the market

• Establish close link with farmers groups and institutional market

On Politics and Governance

• Unhealthy political dynamics amongst the city officials and inefficiencies in the

local government’s bureaucracy may cause delay in the project.

• LGU-managed composting project has a strong tendency to become

inefficient as the LGU people involve in the project usually look at composting

as cost rather than a profit making activity because for them waste

management is a function where LGU is mandated to deliver.

• The role of the LGU is to establish proper infrastructure for effective waste

management and formulate appropriate policies that will facilitate active

participation of the local stakeholders in various waste management activities.

FUTURE OUTLOOK: APPLYING THE LESSONS Despite the small successes experienced by the Baguio composting project,

demonstrating financially viable and self sufficient municipal or city based

composting facility with a capacity to process at least five tons of biodegradable

wastes daily is still a big challenge in the Philippines. Indeed, except for Baguio,

most LGUs with centralized composting facility in the Philippines have the capacity

to manage only around one to two tons of biodegradable waste per day still not

enough to make a dent in terms of solving the waste crisis.

Taking up the challenge and with the lessons extracted from the Baguio composting

facility, the FSSI, JVOFI and the municipality of La Trinidad are now exploring

partnership to develop a sustainable composting facility that has a capacity to

process 30 tons of waste and that will be run as a business enterprise.

Development of a Viable Municipal-based Composting Business Model With the huge trading post located in La Trinidad now in full operation, the

municipality’s vegetable generation has now reached more than 30 tons of vegetable

waste per day. A volume that is far from the municipality’s present waste

management capacity level.

Because of the high volume of vegetable waste being generated daily by the trading

post, vegetable waste composting was identified as the most critical area in the

municipality’s 10-year waste management plan. For La Trinidad, processing 30 tons

of vegetable waste is a very difficult and challenging task to deliver and would

definitely require cost-effective technology. This would also mean big amount of

financing.

To accelerate the development of a municipal based composting, the municipality of

La Trinidad, FSSI and JVOFI have agreed to develop a business plan that is geared

towards processing initially 5-8 tons of vegetable wastes and to formulate the most

appropriate business model to ensure viability.

LOCAL-BUS. COMMUNITY

LA TRINIDAD LGU

CCOOMMPPOOSSTT-- FFEERRTTIILLIIZZEERR

PPRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN

JVO/FSSI

The diagram below presents the general framework on how the La Trinidad

Composting Business Model will be operated.

Moreover, in developing the La Trinidad composting business plan, the following

indicators that will help facilitate the success of the project have been identified as

follows:

Presence of clear effective demand: Market for compost-fertilizer in the

Philippines is increasing as a result of active promotion being implemented by the

Department of Agriculture (DA). Through its “Balanced Fertilization Strategy”, the DA

promotes innovative & cost-effective approach on the use and management of

location specific combinations of inorganic and organic fertilizers. This is to mitigate

the impact of the overuse of urea which has not only caused declining farm yield but

also soil deterioration. Indeed, the market research conducted by FSSI reveals that

all farmers in La Trinidad and in the whole province of Benguet use compost and that

most of the compost products being sold in the La Trinidad market are sourced from

other provinces. Likewise, establishing linkage with farmers in La Trinidad is not

• Investor and at the same leasor of the developed site for composting facility

• Provides infrastructure support like land preparation and site development

• Formulates policies and ordinances supportive of the project

• Integrates collection of vegetable waste in its solid waste collection system

• Temporary investor until such time that the local stakeholders can already sustain the business from its own resources

• Develop and install financial and business management systems in the project

• Develops the capacity of local stakeholders in managing the project

• In partnership with LGU, facilitates the development of technology to make the plant more cost-efficient

MUNICIPAL BASED COMPOSTING: A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER VENTURE MODEL

• Long term operator and partner investor of the LGU.

• Provides marketing support and plays active role in the distribution of the compost products

• Will be trained on the management and operation of the composting project.

difficult as they are clustered according to the type of plants and crops they grow

which include the vegetables, cut flowers and strawberry growers.

Access to cost-effective technology: The JV will prefer using technology,

machineries and other equipment that are tested, low cost, locally available and

does not require a big workforce and huge amount of power during composting

operation. The facility

Available and adequate inputs: The integration of collection of vegetable wastes in

the collection activities of the LGU is important to the viability of the planned

composting plan

Sound Management: The composting business in La Trinidad shall be formed

through a multi-stakeholder partnership and joint venture scheme. An advisory

committee shall consist of official representatives from all stakeholders who

investment in the composting business shall be formed to provide overall strategic

directions to the business. Financial and business management shall be installed

with the help of JVOFI at the onset of the project

Cost-Efficient Operation: The financial estimates made for the project shows that

the composting facility can break even if some 20,000 sacks (at 50 kilos per sack)

shall be processed and sold. This would generate an income of at least 2M pesos to

the plant, enough to sustain its operation. To increase cost-efficiency, the plant

needs to operation at 5-8 tons processing level. Such scale is needed to increase

the viability of the composting project in the Philippines. To maintain the cost at

reasonable level, the La Trinidad composting plant maintain the workforce with a

maximum of eight persons during the start-up operation. Other overhead costs such

as electricity, water, rental maintenance shall be maintained at the minimum level as

much as possible. With La Trinidad government devoting more than three hectares

of land for composting alone, there The year 2006 for FSSI means consolidating the Baguio composting experience and

starting up the 2nd generation composting model in La Trinidad which shall be

established as a commercial enterprise to ensure sustainability and encourage more

local government units in the Philippines to follow suit.

REFERENCES DBCRT, FSSI and JVOFI, 2006. Report on the Technical Documentation and

Technology Assessment of the Baguio Composting Plant Asian Development Bank, 2004. The Garbage Book published in Manila, Philippines The World Bank Group, 2004. Philippine Environment Monitor 2004, pp 16-21 La Trinidad Government, 2005. La Trinidad Solid Waste Management Plan Cipriano V, FIAP, 2002. Recent Agricultural & Fertilizer Development in the

Philippines FSSI, 2004. Baguio Composting Operations Manual Lopez, R. and Buenavista, R, 2006. Executive Director and Program Manager,

Project Documentation of the Baguio Composting Plant La Trinidad SWM Technical Working Group, 2006. Results of interview conducted on

the financial and technological viability of La Trinidad Composting Program Fongwan, 2006, Mayor of La Trinidad Philippines, Interview on the 10-year SWM

program of La Trinidad Leaders of various farmers organizations in La Trinidad, 2006. Discussion on the

fertilizer needs of farmers and market potential of the compost products of La Trinidad composting in La Trinidad and Benguet Province