MMDA supports using incinerators to reduce garbage

MANILA, Philippines -  Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday threw his support behind the proposed use of incinerators to resolve garbage problems in Metro Manila.

Tolentino gave the statement in reaction to a suggestion of Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, who said state-of-the-art incinerators can substantially reduce waste in the metropolis.

During the MMDA’s weekly radio program on dzBB, he said the trash “will be transformed… into gas.”

He added that incinerators can lessen the government’s dependence on sanitary landfills and avert a trash slide. At least three people died when a heavy downpour caused an avalanche of trash at the Irisan dumpsite in Baguio last week.

Tolentino acknowledged that while certain provisions under Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 regulates the use of incinerators, there are “smokeless” incinerators, like in Tokyo and Paris, that do not harm the environment.