When Waste Finds a New Job
OZAMIZ CITY - What once went to the sanitary landfill is being given another assignment: helping gardens grow. Under the HAPAG Program, Ozamiz City is repurposing cocopeat waste as garden soil for barangay gardens and public green spaces. The project brings together offices and groups that approach the effort from different directions. SWEMO handles the waste-management side, while CNAO connects the activity with nutrition and food-related programs. The Liga ng mga Barangay provides a community link, and private-sector partner Coco Harvest, Inc. is part of the collaboration. Together, the arrangement turns a discarded coconut-derived material into something that can be used within neighborhood growing spaces.
The Gardens Become the Testing Ground
The idea becomes easier to appreciate when viewed from the gardens themselves. SWEMO and CNAO personnel, together with representatives from the Liga ng mga Barangay and Coco Harvest, Inc., recently conducted monitoring activities in barangay gardens to observe how the recovered cocopeat was being used. Rather than leaving the initiative as a waste-management concept on paper, the monitoring brings the participating groups to the actual places where the material is being applied. The gardens provide a practical setting for seeing how the recovered material fits into community gardening. That hands-on approach also gives participating offices an opportunity to observe the implementation and consider what works well.
A Small Material With a Bigger Community Use
The HAPAG initiative connects two concerns that are often discussed separately: what happens to waste and how communities maintain food-growing spaces. In this case, the same material can become part of the solution to both. Ozamiz City has previously highlighted waste reduction and environmental responsibility through activities involving SWEMO, including the 2026 Zero Waste Month coastal clean-up in Barangay Carmen Annex. The cocopeat project offers a different application of that principle by recovering a material and putting it toward garden use. For residents, the most visible result may simply be a greener barangay garden—but behind those plants is a practical example of finding another use for something once considered waste.
