Environmental groups on
Friday asked Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista to scuttle a plan to build a
waste-to-energy (WtE) facility, warning it could turn Quezon City into the
“waste incineration capital” of Metro Manila.
An article in the
Nikkei Asian Review last Tuesday said Hitachi Zosen will construct in Quezon
City “a garbage incineration facility capable of processing the waste of three
million residents with a power plant able to pump out more than 20,000 kW.”
The project’s estimated
cost of around $395 million (P18.17 billion), including initial investment
outlay and operational expenses for 20 years, will be regained through waste
processing charges and electricity sales, the article said.
Aileen Lucero, national
coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition appealed to the city government “not to go
for this costly waste incineration scheme, which the industry has re-branded, cashing
in on of concerns over climate change, as a WtE facility.”
Lucero said there are
“far superior environmentally-sound, sustainable and cheaper solutions for
managing discards that will not circumvent the ban on burning waste, while
recovering resources, saving energy, creating jobs and instilling ecological
values among businesses and households.”
The Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act (RA 9003) provides for waste avoidance and volume
reduction through segregation at source, composting, recycling, reuse and other
measures excluding incineration, she said.
Joey Papa, president of
the Bangon Kalikasan Movement, said the construction of this incinerator might
be used “to justify the continued dumping operations in Payatas since a
landfill will still be required for the toxic ash resulting from the combustion
of discards.” Papa said some 30 tons of ash are produced for every 100 tons
burned.
“To be blunt about it,
WtE is a technology Without Thinking of Everybody’s safety and public health at
large,” he said.
Dr. Angelina Galang,
president of Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and
Sustainable Economy, said WtE technology “is not the answer to our need for
energy. It emits toxic dioxins and furans and burns resources, which can
otherwise be recycled or composted. It promotes the generation of waste
because the combustion chamber must be constantly fed with waste. It is the
most expensive energy source according to some experts.”
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