‘Green’ groups block return of incinerators

Environmental groups on Monday took the government to task for considering the use of incinerators to dispose of garbage amid widespread concern over overflowing dumps following a trash slide in Baguio City that killed several people.

Paeng Lopez, national campaigner of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives—one of many nongovernment organizations under Ecowaste Coalition—said that “large-scale” solutions to garbage problems tend to be less effective and doable than just nipping the problem at the source or going for a barangay (village)-level “zero waste” program.

“If we do segregation, recycling, reusing and composting at the household or barangay (village) level, more than 90 of discards would be diverted from landfills,” Lopez told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Lopez said that composting could even fertilize the soil in an area and in turn increase food supply, based on the experience of residents in provinces, including Pangasinan.

“Some barangays composted garbage and used it to fertilize school gardens. These gardens would grow produce they used for food programs. Solving garbage problems could be interrelated with solving many other problems,” he added.

On Sunday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it was considering using incinerators to deal with the garbage problem in the metropolis.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino stressed, however, that should his proposal be approved, the incinerators must conform with emission regulations under the Clean Air Act, which outlaws burning as a means of disposing of garbage following its approval more than a decade ago.

No safe emission levels

For his part, Lopez warned that there was no safe level of emissions from incinerators. Incinerators, he said, always release toxic compounds called dioxins and furans, which are dangerous to health even in small doses.

This was supported by Kalikasan–People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE), which said that there was no such thing as “zero emission incinerators” as proposed by Environment Secretary Ramon Paje.

“Promoting supposed ‘zero-emission’ incinerators is nothing but corporate ‘greenwash’ aimed [at creating] profits for corrupt officials and big business,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.

According to the group, incinerators emit large amounts of dangerous toxic chemicals such as dioxins and heavy metals into the atmosphere, which is why these were banned under Republic Act No. 8749, or the Clean Air Act.

Health risks

It also noted that various scientific studies showed that incinerators cause grave health problems in surrounding communities.

“Aside from the health and other social costs that will likely be shouldered by the public, incinerators themselves are notoriously expensive,” Bautista noted.

“It requires more energy to burn garbage, and therefore greater costs. Segregation policies in the Philippines are poorly implemented if not at all, and thus results in higher costs of burning,” he said.

Paje raised the idea of burning Metro Manila’s garbage to end the use of open landfills. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the metropolis produces a fourth of the country’s total daily waste. Its residents of 14 million generate about 8,400 to 8,600 tons of trash per day.