City requires traders to haul back agricultural wastes

March 2, 2020 Metro BLISTT

The city council approved on third and final reading the ordinance requiring wholesalers of agricultural crops to dispose their agricultural refuse at source or point of origin. The ordinance was signed by Mayor Benjamin Magalong on February 24.

The ordinance defines agricultural refuse as “unwanted or unsalable materials produced wholly from agricultural operations directly related to the growing of crops, such as but not limited to waste from vegetables, fruits and flowers, trimmings, banana trunks and leaves, corn husks, corncobs, and others.”

The ordinance points to traders from different provinces and municipalities as the source of the “voluminous” agricultural waste. It also cites the data from the General Services Office (GSO) showing that the average volume of agricultural refuse collected daily at the Baguio City Public Market consists of 15 tons of waste from vegetables, 1.5 tons of waste from flowers, and 0.7 tons of waste from fruits.

Authored by Councilors Elaine Sembrano, Joel Alangsab, Benny Bomogao, and Levy Lloyd Orcales, the ordinance seeks to address the problem that adds up to the burden of the garbage collectors and increases the hauling expense of the city.

With the mayor’s approval of the ordinance, the act of disposing agricultural crops by wholesalers in the city market and in different satellite markets in the city is now prohibited.

Wholesalers of agricultural crops are required to dispose their agricultural refuse at source or point of origin. Erring wholesalers will be fined with the amount of P1, 000.00 for the first offense, P3, 000.00 for the second offense, and P5, 000.00 for the third and subsequent offenses.

The City Market Division of the City Treasurer’s Office is tasked to implement the ordinance.

Jordan G. Habbiling/ABN