Hedcor partners for Benguet’s environmental efforts

A COMPANY in the power industry has been helping its host communities in the proper collection and disposal of pesticide containers.

Hedcor, the hydropower business unit of AboitizPower, has been assisting its host communities in the province, which are mostly into farming, in complying with Provincial Ordinance 11-150 mandating the retrieval of empty pesticide containers.

Known as the “Empty Pesticide Container Management Ordinance,” the Provincial Ordinance 11-150 regulates the disposal of empty pesticide containers. It involves the triple rinsing of empty pesticide containers by farmers themselves, and collection and disposal by distributors, dealers, and agrochemical companies.

The provincial government came up with the ordinance because of the practice of some farmers or users of pesticides of indiscriminately throwing used or empty pesticide containers in canals, dikes, rivers, and creeks unmindful of the danger to the environment.

Wilfredo Rodolfo 3rd, Aboitiz corporate branding and communication officer, said Hedcor has collected close to 5,000 pieces of assorted pesticide containers from the towns of La Trinidad, Bakun, and Sablan in Benguet since 2016.

He said Hedcor also conducts “The Community HazWaste Training,” wherein communities, which are mostly into farming, are educated about the safe use and proper disposal of pesticides.

For the past 40 years, Hedcor has been supporting its host communities in every way possible driven by the Aboitiz Group promise of advancing business and communities.

Besides its significant tax contributions to the communities, as well as various corporate social responsibility projects, Hedcor continues to seek opportunities to collaborate with local government units in driving change for better communities, he added.

Lito Ayyokad, Hedcor pollution control officer, said Hedcor also has an Ecomarket Day that is a monthly program enabling junk shops to collect recyclables from host communities in Benguet.

He said the project has also become a fun activity that children in the neighborhood look forward to, because they also get to earn money besides helping their parents clean their homes by segregating unusable items.

“In the eyes of a child, discarded items are seen as additional allowance. Plastic bottles for P1 each, tin cans for 50 centavos each, and scrap metals for P5 per kilo,” Ayyokad added.