By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Senator Cynthia Villar is encouraging the Local Government Units (LGUs) in the province to go composting as part of their compliance of Republic Act 9003 or the National Solid Waste Management Law.
Villar, who was in Bacolod City yesterday for a speaking engagement at May’s Organic Garden, said the government, through the Bureau of Soil and Water Management, will be distributing 800 composters throughout the country.
During the training, 162 composters were given to representatives of the LGUs and cooperatives. A composter, she said, could produce one ton of organic fertilizer every month, adding organic fertilizer is the best soil enhancer.
Villar said that in the last three years when she was chair of the Committee on Agriculture, they also gave out composters. She presently chairs the Senate Committee on Environment.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), she said, will also be giving out composting machines.
She stated the program started in 2013 by former Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala where they gave out composting machines and provided training to convert wastes into organic fertilizer./WDJ