Cemex wants to buy used plastic from city

A cement firm is interested in purchasing used plastic from the Cebu City to be used as fuel for its factories.

Representatives of Cemex, considered as one of the three largest cement manufacturers in the world, and the mother company of the Apo Cement Corporation, yesterday paid a visit to Mayor Tomas Osmeña and presented the proposal.

Osmeña said the company wants to buy used plastic at P.30 per kilo, however, instead of getting the plastic exclusively from the Inayawan dumpsite, the mayor said he prefers that the business arrangement will be made as an income-generating opportunity for the barangays. 

Plastic composes 25 percent of garbage collected from houses and establishments in Cebu City.

Osmeña said councilor Augustus Pe will coordinate with the barangays in setting up buying stations where used plastics can be hoarded and purchased by the cement company.

Aside from providing additional income for the city, Osmeña said the venture will also compliment the project the city will undertake with Endesa, an international electric utility firm that is interested in extracting methane gas from the dumpsite.

Endesa is the same firm that provided the funds for Philippine Bio Sciences.

The 100-kilowatt Resource Recovery Facility was launched last year at the Inayawan sanitary landfill aimed at producing electricity for locators at the South Road Properties.

But yesterday, Osmeña confirmed that the city has aborted further arrangements with PhilBio because the firm allegedly has not fulfilled many of the terms laid down by the city for the power plant project, one of these is the feasibility study that PhilBio has allegedly failed to complete.

With Cemex removing the plastic from the dumpsite and garbage in general, it will then be easier for Endesa to extract methane gas from the remaining organic materials, Osmeña said.

The city’s relationship with PhilBio started to deteriorate after PhilBio Cebu manager Ricky Beltran, also a proponent of the Inayawan project, left the firm.  Beltran used to be the middleman between PhilBio and the city government.

“It has turned out to be deteriorating since Ricky Beltran left…when he left, the lack of continuity has somehow left it like less than active status,” Osmeña said earlier.

The waste-to-energy treatment facility was seen to be very promising to SRP because it was expected to be an added boost to SRP investors, as it will eventually lower the cost of their electricity with the subsequent launch of a power plant.

With an estimated cost of P500 million, the project was seen to generate 10 megawatts equivalent to 10 percent of the projected power requirement of future locators at the SRP.  The power that will be produced by the landfill will be sold to SRP at 20 percent lower than the rates offered by the National Power Corporation.  – Joeberth M. Ocao/BRP