Environmental Audit For Swine Waste Management Systems in Lipa City, Philippines
Environmental Audit For Swine Waste Management Systems in Lipa City, Philippines
Environmental Audit For Swine Waste Management Systems in Lipa City, Philippines
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International Conference on Agriculture, Food and Environmental Engineering (ICAFEE'2014) Jan. 15-16, 2014 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
management activities to reduce the environmental risks to management theory. These factors considerably aid the
owners, farm workers and neighbors. farmers in making their swine production and manure
The result of the study would provide information for farms management socially sustainable and economically viable.
using anaerobic lagoons on the production and use compost
and anaerobic digester for production of biogas. The latter II. METHODS AND MATERIALS
will reduce the utilization of liquefied petroleum gas and
A. Site Description
conserve the use of fossil fuel. Hence, it will make the
business economically viable and socially acceptable. The Province of Batangas is known for its livestock
The Waste Management Theory (WMT) under the industry. The study focused on the swine waste management
paradigm of Industrial Ecology best explains the sound swine being practiced in the selected small and medium scale farms
waste management system (Figure 1). It has been introduced particularly in Lipa City. The City of Lipa was considered,
to channel environmental sciences into engineering design [1]. since there are numerous swine raisers within the area that do
The theory was constructed side by side with other relevant not have proper waste management system in their farm
issues especially the Design Theory. The WMT is a unified operations. Since Lipa City does not have an environmental
body of knowledge that encompasses issues about waste and code, no blueprint can be used to aid the farmers in the
waste management. Although the Design Theory is still on the adoption of the proposed best management practices and
process of development. technologies. If detail ordinance on waste management like in
the Environmental Code of Batangas is enacted; complaints of
Waste Management Theory nearby residents affected by the odor will be given proper
resolutions.
The worksheets on livestock waste management of Ontario
Environmental Farm Plan were used by the researcher. Other
environmental aspects in the worksheet of Arkansas Farm
Environmental Audit Assessment System were also included. In addition, the
Farmers Perceptions
Compilati environmental aspects with moderate and high risk brought
on Alternative Waste
on of Best
Management about the farm operation were identified. The potential of the
Practices
Technologies
farm site to contaminate the surface water and groundwater
was assessed. The design of the lagoon, manure handling,
storage and disposal, noise and odor, water use efficiency,
Sustainable Waste Management impact on the environment and record keeping on swine waste
Practices management were examined.
Fig. 1 Theoretical framework of the study Best swine waste management practices observed in the
study farms were documented and those from literature and
The WMT is expected to guide the study in designing a from key informant interview who are experts on swine waste
technology that minimizes pollution problems associated with management were compiled for recommendation to minimize
swine waste and will be able to recycle the waste as a raw or eliminate the environmental risk, particularly, for
material for a more profitable production. However, social environmental aspects with risk indices of 3 and 4.
acceptability is the most important aspect for an enterprise to Out of these 20 swine farms, 16 farms have both the
be economically viable. The enterprise sustainability depends anaerobic lagoon and digester-based swine waste management
on it. The current waste management technologies should be system and only four farms have anaerobic lagoon-based
socially acceptable to the neighborhood to be economically swine waste management system. Appointments were made
and socially sustainable. with the owner or farm manager regarding on the best day to
The prevention of waste generation is the main priority in come to conduct the environmental audit and interview on his
waste management [1]. This priority is in line with the core of perception of the existing and alternative developed
proper management of waste which is conservation of technologies. The selected farms were located in different
resources. While optimizing the use of available resources, the barangays of Lipa City with swine high population density.
accumulation of wastes should be minimized, as supported by Farmers Perceptions of the Existing and Alternative Swine
the principles of Industrial Ecology that industries should Waste Management Technologies
make minimum use of materials and energy in products, Questionnaire was developed to assess farmers perceptions
processes and in services. of existing and alternative technologies to determine what
The theory also supports the conduct of an environmental necessary modification needs to be done so that these will be
audit for swine waste management, which will serve as the socially and economically acceptable to them. The barriers to
basis for selecting different best management practices for the the adoption of the technology were also assessed. There are
benefit of the swine raisers. The farmers perception of and lots of technologies but not being adopted by the swine
attitude towards the adoption and use of available farmers. The farm owners or managers were the respondents
technologies also falls under the umbrella of waste
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International Conference on Agriculture, Food and Environmental Engineering (ICAFEE'2014) Jan. 15-16, 2014 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
17
International Conference on Agriculture, Food and Environmental Engineering (ICAFEE'2014) Jan. 15-16, 2014 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
TABLE I
MOST IMPORTANT COST CONSIDERATION WHEN COMPARING odor nuisance like pollution of the surface water and
ALTERNATIVES TECHNOLOGIES TO BE ADOPTED IN THE FARM
groundwater and water and carbon footprints, level of
management/supervision required by owner/operator and
COST ITEM FREQUENCY PERCENT
compatibility with existing waste management system.
If the cost is not a constraint, majority of respondents
Operating and maintenance cost 1 5 indicated that they would like the following to be installed to
Initial/Investment cost 15 75 improve the performance of the anaerobic digester or lagoon
By-product revenues (e.g. Energy or swine waste management system: improvement of methane
fertilizer) 4 30
recovery, biogas storage, removal of sludge from the digester
Total 20 100 or lagoon, improvement of retention time of feedstock of
wastewater and the capacity of the facultative or anaerobic digester to 20-30 days and removal of stone or coarse fraction
lagoons will be easily exceeded and overflowing of the in the influent (Table 2). They also prioritized the diversion of
lagoons will occur. Further, minimizing the use of water for rain water or runoff away from the digester or lagoon and the
cleaning, the inflow and outflow of wastewater in the lagoon zero discharge of effluent or wastewater in the waterways.
must be given due attention (Fig 3). Scraping of manure These would minimize greenhouse gas emission and also
before flushing reduces water use for cleaning almost by 50%. improve material and energy recovery from the manure and
More farms with anaerobic digester-based swine waste water use in the farm. Swine waste management technology
management system were to reduce the amount of water than improvement should be in this direction. If biogas is used as
the anaerobic lagoon-based system. However, the former have fuel for the generator, removal of moisture and hydrogen
inadequate manure storage capacity and no emergency plan sulfide would be necessary to reduce the maintenance cost and
with manure spills. The farms with anaerobic lagoon system improve the life of biogas powered generator. H2S is oxidized
also have emergency plan with manure spills. into sulfur dioxide, contributes to corrosion of metals in the
H. Noise and Odor farm households. It is also the cause of foul odor in the farm.
Unpleasant odor from unacceptable handling and storage of TABLE II
manure is generated in the course of swine production. The PREFERENCE FOR FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN COMPARING ALTERNATIVE
offensive odor and nearness of residential houses to the farms WASTE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES EXCLUDING COST
means that the existing swine waste management systems with FACTORS TO BE LEVEL OF PREFERENCE
CONSIDERED IN COMPARING
moderate-high to high risk practices create threats to the ALTERNATIVE
environment and community. In addition, there is high density TECHNOLOGY
of swine houses close to residence or there are more than three 1st 2nd 3rd
residential houses near the farm boundaries.
Level of Management/Supervision
required by owner/supervisor
Level of Odor
Environmental Impact other than
odor
IV. CONCLUSION
Environmental audit of swine waste management system
can be use to evaluate the environmental performance of
anaerobic digester and lagoon systems of various scales of
swine production in Lipa City. This is based on Ontario
Environmental Farm Plan [2] and the Arkansas Farm
Assessment System [3]. The environmental aspects of the
Fig. 3 Lettuce garden in a swine farm operation and maintenance of the anaerobic digester system
I. Farmers Perceptions on Alternative Waste should be included in the environmental audit system. The
Management Technologies value adding to swine manure to reduce water and carbon
Initial investment or sunk cost is the most important footprints and to increase soil carbon sequestration should
consideration for selecting alternative technologies to be also be included. The environmental audit from swine waste
adopted in the farm according to the respondents. They are management can be used by the local government units and
also concerns on value adding to by-products generated in the the environmental regulatory agency for monitoring the
farm. The priority factors to be considered in comparing compliance of swine farm to environmental permit and
alternative waste management technologies other than cost are environmental compliance certificate, respectively.
reduction of odor nuisance, environmental factors other than
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International Conference on Agriculture, Food and Environmental Engineering (ICAFEE'2014) Jan. 15-16, 2014 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is the modified version of the authors Masters
thesis . Hence, the author would like to extend the sense of
gratitude to the Department of Science and Technology,
University of the Philippines Los Baos, and De La Salle
Lipa. Moreover, to V. Paduras adviser, Dr. Antonio
Alacantara, for the continuous support and guidance.
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