Ecobreves – PERU:: Recycling Fish Waste

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

LIMA, Jan 19 2004 (IPS) - A Peruvian farming community on the Pacific coast, 800 km north of Lima, is manufacturing a new type of fertilizer, using fish remains and other waste, previously dumped at sea by the local fisherfolk. From 160 tons of marine waste, that would otherwise pollute Santa Rosa cove, the local residents produce 80 tons of what is known as “icthiocompost”.

The idea for the project came from biologist Lila Suárez, who convinced rural leaders to use fallow land to dig two recycling pits with a capacity to hold 300 cubic meters.

The fish waste is transported from the beaches and dumped into the fermentation pits, to which rice hulls and other plant waste is added to promote microbe activity, converting the mass into biological fertilizer.