Agriculture Business Week

The huge amount of vegetable refuse generated everyday at the trading posts, bagsakan centers and public markets could be an excellent source of fully decomposed compost that vegetable growers can use if this is processed the right way.

In some places, vegetable refuse is simply brought to a material recovery facility (MRF) where it is allowed to decompose the natural way. In other places like Central Luzon State University (CLSU), people in-charge of its MRF claim to apply some beneficial microorganisms on the biomass that is brought there. However, the biomass is applied with beneficial microorganisms, simply to dry up the natural way.

According to Bayani L. Profugo, president and general manager of Bens Agribusiness Corporation, vegetable refuse and other biomass can be processed quickly into compost if its solid and liquid content are first separated from each other using a dewatering equipment.

Called the Bayan Screw Press, this equipment can shred the vegetable refuse and other biomass into smaller particles and separate liquid and solid components, leaving only 20 to 30 percent of the biomass as solid waste. The solid component is then dried and applied with Biosec to become compost in just a month.

Profugo and Dr. Rene Sumaoang, president and general manager of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, said the liquid component of the biomass can also be processed quickly into liquid fertilizer in just a week. Thus, local government units (LGUs) with vegetable trading posts or bagsakan centers could generate a lot of revenue by using this process.

Manufactured by Novatech, Biosec is composed of immobilized beneficial microbes and potent digestive enzymes that would digest and degrade the solid waste.

The trading post in La Trinidad, Benguet, for instance, generates at least 30 tons of vegetable refuse everyday, according to an LGU engineer whom we were able to interview. The volume of refuse could be more during peak periods.

With this volume of refuse, about 10 tons of solid waste could be produced with the Bayan Screw Press. When processed into fully decomposed compost, this would be equivalent to 200 bags of compost daily. In a month, a total 6,000 bags would be produced. This could mean a huge income to the LGU if the compost is sold to the vegetable farmers even at a low price.

Incidentally, the Bayan Screw Press can be used in” many ways for solid and liquid separation, according to Profugo. It can be used in a biogas system, slaughterhouses, as well as in the processing of carrots and virgin coconut oil.