Recognized as one of the “World’s Best Environmental Projects,” the VIllar SIPAG’s Las Piñas Kitchen Wastes Composting Project won the Energy Globe Award, the world’s most prestigious award for environmental sustainability.
Senator Cynthia Villar, representing Villar SIPAG where she sits as a director, received the “Certificate of Honor” from Austrian Ambassador to the Philippines Johann Brieger and Commercial Counselor of the Embassy of Austria in the Philippines Christina Stieber.
The Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) was acknowledged for its significant contributions and sustainable efforts to protect, preserve and save the environment.
The certificate was handed to the senator during the 23rd Energy Globe of Austria Award held November 22 at Villar SIPAG Complex, C5 Ext.,Pulang Lupa, Las Piñas City. The awarding was joined by the senator’s family- former Senate President Manny Villar, founder of Villar SIPAG along with Sen. Cynthia; Sen. Mark Villar; House Deputy Speaker Camille Villar and Vista Land CEO Paolo Villar, and witnessing the event is Vice Mayor April Aguilar, who represented the Las Piñas city government.
The award is presented in the country where a project is being implemented in cooperation with the international offices of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
In her acceptance speech, Villar noted it is Villar SIPAG Foundation’s distinct honor to receive the award founded in 1999 by the energy pioneer Wolfgang Neumann.
For this year, she said there were 180 participating countries and “we are glad and proud to be in the roster of winners for our Las Piñas Kitchen Waste Composting Project.”
The composting project which was started by Sen. Cynthia Villar in 2002, enables Las Piñas City to save more than P300 million annually from recycling 75 percent of their wastes, where 50 percent are kitchen and garden wastes into organic fertilizer.
Villar noted the process helps the people to properly segregate and dispose their trash to reduce its harmful effects on land and water, and to protect the Las Piñas-Zapote River from garbage siltation.
The Villar SIPAG- a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of Vista Land, has established 118 composting facilities, 67 of them located in the 20 barangays in Las Piñas and 50 in Vista Land communities nationwide.
“It also contributes to the promotion of organic farming in the Philippines as farmers are among the main beneficiaries of this compositing,” said Villar.
“The project touches the lives of many vegetable enthusiasts interested in home gardening, the farmers and private individuals for they can avail free organic fertilizer together with vegetable seeds for their farms or backyard garden,” related Villar.
She said the composting project was triggered by the closure of primary disposal facilities, the overflowing water of Las Piñas River and the ongoing soil degradation, among others.
