Biological enzymes tested in Dumaguete dump

CEBU, Philippines - The Dumaguete City government has started using biological enzymes at its dump in Barangay Candau-ay, hoping to address the foul odor and decompose the mountain of garbage at the site.

Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, City Administrator and concurrent City Agriculturist William Ablong, and City Environment and Natural Resources Office chief Rey Awayan, led the initial spraying of the P1-million worth of bio-enzyme mixture on the tons of garbage.

Ablong said the bio-enzymes came in powder form and have to be diluted with non-chlorinated water before it was sprayed on the dump to speed up the decomposition process of garbage. He explained that this mixture is expected to break down the garbage in three to four days.

An hour after the spraying, the odor emanating from the trash pile was gone, but Ablong said it was suggested that another spraying be done on the second day.

With the biological enzymes, it is now expected that the city’s old garbage, estimated to be about 500 tons, in addition to the 40 tons of trash dumped daily on the site will decompose in less than six months, authorities said.

The city government has adopted various means to address the problem of garbage, as it admitted that it could not find an ideal location for the government-recommended sanitary landfill. —Judy Flores Partlow and Juancho R. Gallarde (FREEMAN)