Manila: Environmentalist groups have criticised the so-called "waste-to-energy" technologies being peddled by contractors to the Philippine government, saying such options were equally highly-polluting alternatives for producing power.
In a campaign launched recently, the groups, led by the EcoWaste Coalition and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), lamented that advocates of incineration as a waste disposal option were using climate change as a springboard to sell their technology.
"It is anomalous that incinerator pushers are using the climate issue as an additional platform to peddle their polluting technologies. Worse, our government agencies and officials are falling for this ruse at great expense to the health of communities and the environment," said Manny Calonzo, Co-Coordinator, GAIA.
GAIA similarly lamented the influx of "waste-to-energy" or WTE schemes, which cover a broad range of technologies that directly generate energy from burning waste.
The groups also vowed to oppose these incinerator schemes masquerading as "renewable energy" sources. They said WTE not only undermines the country's ban on waste incineration, but also causes toxic pollution and reduced employment in the recycling sector.
WTE incineration schemes include a wide range of technologies that utilise combustion, including gasification, plasma, pyrolysis and mass burn incineration - some of which have already secured clearances and permits to operate from the Philippine government.
Roy Alvarez, President of the EcoWaste Coalition, said: "The Philippines does not need incinerators as there are safer and more practical waste management options available that can best serve the goals of the country in mitigating climate change, in protecting the environment, and in generating green jobs and enterprises."
From a climate standpoint, waste prevention is the most practical carbon emissions reduction scheme complemented by reusing and recycling, the groups said, while land-filling and incinerating waste are deemed the worse options.
The Philippines use both land-filling and incineration.
From the perspective of resource conservation, phasing out residual waste (the waste that remains after reusing and recycling) is the best means to ensure all discards are reusable and recyclable, the groups stated.
The Philippines' law against air pollution, the Clean Air Act of 1999, bans the incineration of municipal, biomedical and hazardous wastes, which emits toxic and poisonous fumes, while the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 requires the adoption of best environmental practices in ecological waste management excluding incineration.
