Joy Belmonte defends council, waste-to-energy tech

BELMONTE

QUEZON CITY, Philippines–Reacting to criticism from Quezon City-based environmentalists, the local council clarified that its recent resolution asking Congress to amend provisions of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 was not intended to seek the “absolute” lifting of the ban on incinerators.

Speaking on behalf of the city council, Vice Mayor Josefina Belmonte said the resolution just made a request for the House of Representatives to amend provisions pertaining to incineration using state-of-the-art waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities.

“By all means, the amendment of the laws rests upon the sound discretion and wisdom of Congress,” Belmonte said in a statement. “The council’s resolution is just a humble request which may or may not be considered, depending on the capacity of the national government to regulate the operation of said facilities.”

Belmonte nevertheless pointed out that based on a 2002 Supreme Court ruling, the Clean Air Act “does not absolutely prohibit incineration as a mode of waste disposal, (but) only those burning processes which emit poisonous and toxic fumes are banned.”

The council, she said, declared that only facilities that strictly conform to standards set by the law would be used by Quezon City.

The vice mayor maintained that the council’s move in favor of WTE facilities should not be considered regressive, saying: “On the contrary, the use of WTE facilities is a progressive move in consonance with the practices adopted by developed countries.”

Such facilities, she said, had been extensively used in the United States, Sweden, France, England, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

Belmonte added that the WTE program was in addition to several environment-friendly initiatives, including those promoting recycling and waste segregation at the source, that had been adopted and prioritized by the city.

“This WTE program will neither compete with recycling, compound the waste-management problem nor add health hazards,” she stressed, noting that the council earlier enacted environmental measures banning plastic and styrofoam containers, for example.

“Being one of the most recognized and pioneering cities on environmental management both locally and internationally, Quezon City bears the best interests of the constituents in mind and will not put its good reputation at risk by investing in facilities that will further harm the environment,” Belmote said.

Quezon City-based environmentalists, namely Von Hernandez, Sonia Mendoza, Joey Papa and Shally Vitan, recently denounced the council resolution, calling it a “death blow” to waste prevention and recycling initiatives already in place and flourishing in many parts of the city.