The Municipality of San José (MSJ) has been seeking ways to reuse organic waste generated in the capital, which represents 50% of the total waste.
That is why next week it will open the first center for composting organic waste in an urban canton.
Composting involves a transformation process of organic matter to obtain compost: a natural fertilizer.
They are expected to work with 1 tonne of waste per day.
Emperatriz Ordeñana, head of the Environmental Services Department of the municipality, explained that they intend to treat organic waste, especially from markets, to contribute to the reduction of waste that reaches landfills.
The law states that we must revalue waste and we had already begun nearly 20 years ago with the recycling program for plastic, cardboard and glass, but not organic waste,”
said Ordeñana.
The woman explained that the idea of composting is that waste does not go to landfills and remain there for months or years.
The decomposition of organic waste produces a lot of methane, which is a polluting gases involved in the greenhouse effect. But when composted it does not release these gases, so it doesn’t pollut the environment, it actually becomes food for the earth, it’s a ‘soil improver’”
explained Ordeñana.
About four people will be in charge of the center’s operational work and an evaluation of the project is expected within a month and a half or two months.
The idea is to be able to evaluate the system and determine how it can be applied to cover more waste from the capital.