Turning garbage into fertilizer
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Garbage at collection points can be a thing of the past if the population are taught to manage their waste by separating items. Processed garbage can be recycled into fertilisers, papers and even compressed bricks for housing development projects.

Observers are optimistic that garbage here could be minimised if residents can learn to manage household waste properly.

They said public awareness and participation in managing their own waste would reduce the total daily waste by as much as 50 per cent.

"Then we would not be seeing much uncollected rubbish in collection points during public holidays," they added.

They said each family can actually process their own garbage by separating the items that can be recycled or turned into fertilizer.

The processing is done at a waste treatment facility using western technology.

"Processed garbage of ten tonnes can produce three tons of fertiliZer from the waste, which can be resold to the public," they said.

However, they warned that the process may be easier said than done as it was more difficult to raise public awareness than to apply the technology.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin