Blackhole back to work for Valley

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Japanese partners have certified the Blackhole technology to be in tip top shape.

Japanese Engineer Shinya Okubo, inventor of the technology, said adjustments were made for the technology to adapt to Philippine waste volume.

Okubo said the volume of waste in the Valley has posed a problem to the machine in the Alno site meriting adjustments.

Mayor Greg Abalos presented the Japanese partners to Vice Mayor Romeo Salda, Municipal Legal Counsel Maurico Cating, Councilors Jim Boitiwey and Miguel Luma-ang, chairman of the Cooperative Bank of Benguet, and to the public, in an effort to once and for all clear issues for the municipality and the technology.

Abalos, in a bid to clarity matters, said the Blackhole technology is still a strong option for the municipality to be acquired. “I hope this will dispel all the rumors and talks.”

The Japanese arrived in August to check the technology.

Abalos said, “Engineer Okubo will be in constant contact with to regularly check the machine.”

Okubo heads the Japanese team operating the machine now.

The machine is a world renowned Japanese magnetic garbage decomposer using low temperature plasma to decompose garbage; it is the first of its kind in the Philippines.

The machine can accommodate 15 cubic meters of garbage a day.

Abalos said the middle man for the technology, Wisdom Amahah of the Philippines Ngo Support System, has been removed from dealing with the municipality.

“We are now dealing directly with the inventor from Japan,” Abalos said.

The machine could decompose 10 tons of garbage in 20 hours without using electricity or fuel and it comes with eco-composting receptacles called “magical buckets” to all the barangays in the Valley.

The magical bucket is supposed to compost biodegradable waste overnight making it easier for the machine to operate.

In the La Trinidad Trading Post 40 tons of residual waste is generated per day 12 tons of this waste is processed into compost.

Abalos is confident the technology will be able to meet needs of the municipality.

He added certifications from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Environmental Management Bureau and other agencies will be acquired to further convince the local council to ratify the purchase of the technology.