Plant that turns trash into fuel goes online in Pasig

The city government of Pasig brought online on Wednesday what it described as the country’s largest facility for turning rubbish into fuel, capable of processing 600 tons of trash daily.

The refuse-driven facility (RDF), which is the city’s joint project with the IPM Construction & Development Corp. (IPM) and Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), can process into fuel trash that is almost equivalent to the volume collected daily within the city.

Pasig City Mayor Maribel Eusebio said the RDF would produce fuel pellets from trash, which would then be supplied as alternative fuel to cement plants like those of LaFarge group in the Philippines.

The RDF is majority owned by Basic Environmental Systems & Technologies, Inc. (BEST) – a subsidiary of publicly listed Minerales Industrias Corp. – and France-based Lafarge Industrial Ecology International.

The facility mechanically segregates waste, selecting garbage with high thermal value that will be shredded, made into pellets and wrapped into bales.

The RDF is expected to convert 25 percent to 35 percent of the processed waste into alternative fuel for cement kilns.

“The facility addresses serious concerns on increasing municipal solid waste and disposal,” Eusebio said. “The RDF facility also complies with the waste diversion requirement of Republic Act No. 9003 or Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (and) also addresses climate change issues associated with how municipal wastes are managed.”

Use trash-derived fuel in lieu of coal — a a major source of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute significantly to global warming — addresses the twin issues of solid waste management and climate change, the mayor said.

“This is the largest RDF facility in the Philippines to date,” said Isabelita P. Mercado, president of IPM, which operates and manages the facility.

“This is also a pioneering endeavor to save the environment by reducing our dependence on fossil fuel,” Mercado added.

She said the co-processing of RDF from municipal solid wastes for cement plants has been an environment-friendly technology used in many countries.