San Germán nonprofit, farmers turn solid waste into plant food

San Germán Mayor Virgilio Olivera Olivera, center, an agronomist by trade, was amply impressed with the hard work the non-profit organization Agricultural with a Rural, Ecological and Sustainable Conscience has put into a process for converting waste into plant food.

By The Star Staff

San Germán Mayor Virgilio Olivera Olivera recently visited and committed himself to assisting the non-profit organization Agricultural with a Rural, Ecological and Sustainable Conscience (ACRES by its acronym in Spanish), which since 2011 has been dedicated to transforming garbage into food.

The mayor, an agronomist by trade, was more than surprised with the arduous work of the entity located in Escuela José Celso Barbosa in the southwestern town.

“A while ago we ceded the school to ACRES for the realization of different projects that seek to protect the San Germán environment,” the mayor said. “Without a doubt it is a super project.”

“One of our most important motors as a municipal administration is nothing less than the collaboration with all the non-profit organizations, like ACRES, for example,” Olivera added.

ACRES Director Carmen Ramírez Morales said the nonprofit is dedicated, “among many other things, to the transformation of garbage into food.”

“And for this we count on the unconditional support of several farmers from the Nostra Raza Estate in Barrio Minillas Alto,” she said.

“We develop compost, wormpost and solid black flies whose result is food for various types of plants,” Ramírez Morales said. “Our mission is to educate and work on sustainable agriculture, care for the environment and good food, and improve everyone’s health.”