Editorial: It's the project not the company

Wednesday, February 1, 2012


WITH Herhof of Germany said to have backed out from the waste to energy (WTE) project of the Davao City government, there is really no reason to despair. Herhof does not have exclusive claim to the WTE technology.


This may even be godsend because by now, the local government has a longer list of properties that are into such technology to choose from.


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When Herhof came into the picture there was just this one German company and another, the Sinova. Now, City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte said there are ten companies offering similar packages.


Looking back, mystery clouded Herhof. There was just the name and a representative, very unlike when foreign companies come in and enter into a partnership with the local government where high-ranking company officials would at least make the effort to say hello. Moreso, there is but declarations coming from the local government and not Herhof, even if you search the Internet. Are they real? They are. A little more enthusiasm for a project that the city believes in, however, would have been most appreciated.


Now on to waste to energy, the idea is right within the concern for carbon emissions and environment-friendly solid waste disposal.


Our city is growing, and growing much faster is our garbage. Despite many press conferences where the city environment and natural resources office chief claims he has finally made headway into proper waste disposal where households are now segregating their waste, we know this is not true, we only have to look at the garbage being disposed out there. We also only need to see how garbage is being collected. Bust most telling is the presence of some scavengers right inside the sanitary landfill in New Carmen, Tugbok. If it’s true that solid waste is segregated at source, then there should be nothing of any value in that landfill.


The problem about solid waste management and segregation at source should not be covered up by announcements and press conference statements about how many are being sued and how much garbage volume has been reduced.


Reduction in garbage collection is not even an objective measure, there are just too many variables here, most indicative of which is the efficiency of collection and then, have we even measured if the garbage are indeed properly disposed of or are households just finding other ways to throw their garbage just so they will not have to segregate. Have we checked our waterways? And are we sure that the garbage are not being burned instead? Cenro only has figures, never objective studies.


Bottomline, we still have hundreds of tons of garbage to deal with everyday and it’s not getting less. The Cenro claims this is around 430 tons per day, but we just said we are not sure where Cenro gets its figures and how these figure reflect collection efficiency and the people’s discipline to truly segregate and recycle at source. Still, 430 metric tons is 430 metric tons. Imagine that. Imagine too the energy that can be generated from that, the revenue that can be derived or saved from that energy, and the additional years we are giving to our multi-million landfill that is fast being filled up. This time though, it will help if the city will scrutinize each offer and exert extra effort to know who are the people behind each company. In that way, it will have a clear idea of the interests each company holds for such a project. A track record too if very necessary. All these, plus transparency and official commitment to do one’s job conscientiously and not just to play up to the media in press conferences.


Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on February 01, 2012.