Waste processing facility, Eco group opposes JICA project

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Earth Justice Center has cautioned the Cebu City government against a proposed plastic waste processing facility at the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill.

PEJC co-founder, lawyer Gloria Ramos, said that the P12 million Refuse Derived Fuel technology proposed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) does not solve the bigger waste problem of the city and will violate the Clean Air Act (R.A. 8749) and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (R.A. 9003).

“Should it continue with the project, the city shall likewise be in violation of two more prohibited acts under Section 48, sections 14-16 of R.A. 9003,” said Ramos in a press statement sent to The Freeman.

PEJC together with EcoWaste Coalition, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod, Mother Earth Foundation, Panaghiusa sa Manggagawan’ng Transportasyon, and Sanlakas Sugbo, expressed their opposition to the project during an executive session with the members of the Cebu City Council.

Ramos said that Mother Earth Foundation president Froilan Grate made a presentation during the executive session, citing best practices among local government units in ecological solid waste management that can address the burgeoning waste problem of the city. 

Councilor Alvin Dizon reportedly commended the presentation and asked that, it be presented before the city’s Solid Waste Management Board.

She added that JICA has tapped the services of Mansei Recycle Systems Co., Ltd. to implement the proposed facility that will process mixed waste in the landfill and recycle it into plastic fluff, which will then be used to produce waste plastic-based fuel that will be sold to local cement manufacturers as an alternative to coal.

Ramos said that the project is primarily an entrepreneurial activity as the city stands to gain from the revenues, but the public functions of the city, which is to implement environmental laws and to protect the health of the people and the environment and the framework of sustainable development which should be adhered, are effectively sidelined.

“The wastes to be collected from the dumpsite are most likely contaminated and therefore hazardous, especially for our waste pickers and the people who will be working in that facility,” Ramos explained.

She added that the basis of RDF technology is burning or incineration as the fuel produced from waste is burned in conventional incinerators and cement kilns.

Ramos added that rather than embarking on a revenue-generating project designed only to earn money, it is more prudent for the city government to prioritize measures to reduce environmental emissions and contamination and protect public health and ecosystems through a serious implementation of our laws.

PEJC questioned the sustainability of the project as RDF’s by-product will add to the increasing toxic air pollution and carbon concentration in the atmosphere, to the detriment of many people. —(FREEMAN)