3 plants melting tires closed

ANGAT, BULACAN—The government has shut down three more facilities in two Bulacan towns for violating environmental laws and failing health standards, two weeks after the Feb. 16 crackdown on a tire melting plant in Guiguinto.

On Wednesday, the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) padlocked the thermal processors of the Phil Pao Enterprises Inc. in Barangay Pulong Yantok and Bio City Scrap in Barangay Binagbag, both in Angat, and of Ming Hong in Barangay Partida in nearby Norzagaray town.

Lormelyn Claudio, EMB Central Luzon director, said all three facilities received instructions earlier to cease their operations because of complaints from residents.

These firms melt used tires through the heating process called pyrolysis to produce bunker oil, which is sold to fuel the boiler machines of hog raisers.

But the raiding teams that Claudio led found that the thermal processors were warm, suggesting that operations there continued despite the cease and desist orders.

Claudio said the teams discovered soot at the Ming Hong plant, which should have been contained as part of the mandatory standards set by environmental laws.

The first plant, Bio Eco Solutions Inc., which operates in Barangay Tabang in Guiguinto, was also shut down after it defied a cease and desist order.

Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado directed the provincial government to investigate the municipal government of Guiguinto to determine if it was liable for issuing a business permit to Bio Eco Solutions despite the absence of an environmental clearance certificate and other permits.

A check made with the municipal offices of Angat and Norzagaray showed the three closed plants operated without local permits.

The EMB is monitoring the operations of three other tire recycling plants in Norzagaray, it was learned.

Claudio said the EMB is checking if the crackdown on environmentally-critical tire plants would have an effect on the Bulacan hog trade, which supplies 60 percent of Metro Manila’s daily pork. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon