Items that typically occupy garbage bins and would have landed in landfills are given a new lease on life in this urban agriculture demonstration farm in a village in the middle of a city in the Philippines. Tires, plastic containers of condiments, soda bottles, sacks of rice, among others become home to organically grown fruits and vegetables, providing healthy alternatives to commercially farmed products and exra income for those who grow them.
Through the leadership of the local government, some 80% of the residents in this village practice garbage segragation. It has an Asian Development Bank-funded materials recovery facility (MRF) that boasts of a state-of-the-art composting facility which further lessens the amount of garbage they add to the Payatas open dumpsite. To further give proof to the Filipino saying "may pera sa basura" (there is money in garbage), the MRF is a self-sustaining enterprise earning hundreds of thousands of pesos a year through the sale of recyclable items recovered from households and organic fertilizer. The money earned by the MRF help fund its operation, pays for its workers, and supports the operation of the village's health centers.
This village is indeed a sight for sore eyes.
the village of Barangay Holy Spirit, Quezon City, January, 2009, using a digicam.
