Green group wants government to douse open burning

MANILA, Philippines - A local waste and pollution watchdog appealed to the government yesterday to strictly enforce the ban on open burning, as provided under the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (Republic Act 9003), especially with the observation of Fire Prevention Month this March.

The Ecological Waste Coalition (EcoWaste) warned that burning garbage gravely endangers not only people’s health but also turns “a solid waste problem into a complex problem involving toxic chemicals.”

EcoWaste also reminded the public that fires could similarly start from burning garbage, which also destroys resources, damage ecosystems, and disperse toxins into the environment.

“In our communities it is still customary for people to sweep their surroundings, gather the mix of organic and inorganic trash into a pile, and set fire to it despite the explicit ban on open burning,” EcoWaste president Manny Calonzo said.

Ecowaste said neither incineration nor the creation of more dumps will make waste disappear. The group called for “an honest-to-goodness implementation of RA 9003,” focusing on waste prevention, minimization, and segregation at source, recycling and composting.

EcoWaste said there are some creative reuse ideas for common materials that people ordinarily just set on fire.

The group said people can “grasscycle” by leaving grass clippings on the lawn where they will break down naturally and, in the process, feed the soil with valuable nutrients; compost fallen leaves into organic soil amendment or chop the leaves and turn them into leaf mulch for garden use; cut clean used plastic carry bags into strips and weave them into functional bags; reuse clean bottles and tin cans into flower vases, pen and pencil holders and containers for office and kitchen stuff; use old newspapers to cover books and wrap gifts; and turn candy wrappers into colorful party lei, among others.

“The truth of the matter is that burning garbage does much more harm than good,” Calonzo said. “Done with absolutely no pollution control, open burning produces toxic fumes and ashes that contain extremely harmful to health and environmental pollutants.”

The group particularly urged the National Solid Waste Management Commission and local authorities to implement the ban on open burning.

Aside from the open burning of domestic waste, EcoWaste asked the government to also look into “unchecked open burning” that occur in dumps and in junkshops, where informal recyclers burn used tires and cables to retrieve lengths of metal wire.

The group also drew attention to biomass burning in the countryside, particularly rice straw or dayami burning, as well as the slash-and-burn farming or kaingin.

According to EcoWaste, the toxic pollutants produced from burning garbage are linked to health problems including asthma and other respiratory illnesses, damage to the nervous system, kidney and liver, and reproductive and developmental disorders.

The group said even the simple burning of seemingly harmless organic wastes such as leaves and other plant matter releases millions of spores into the air, which can be a big problem for people with allergies.

Calonzo stressed that a particular concern for public health activists “in the cocktail of chemicals released from open burning” is dioxin, a persistent organic pollutant (POP) that has been described as the most toxic manmade substance known to science.

“The Department of Science and Technology has identified open burning as primary source of dioxin pollution in the country,” he said.

Dioxins are known to cause cancers and other serious disorders in the reproductive, developmental, neurological and immune systems of humans. To protect the public health and the environment, its elimination has become a global priority under the Stockholm Convention on POPs, which the Senate ratified in 2004.

Last month, the Zero Waste Mercury Group, Ban Toxics and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives released a report implicating the burning of mercury-containing product wastes in dumps and incinerators, as a major source of mercury pollution in the environment.

Mercury can be found in batteries, compact-fluorescent lamps, electrical switches or relays, dental amalgam, thermometers, blood pressure devices and other medical products and chemicals.