International
NGO Community Urges GMA to Keep the Incineration Ban:
"Set an Example for the Rest of the World"
Manila,
Philippines. 28 November 2001. Over 142 groups and individuals
from 32 countries across the globe have asked the Office of
the President not to yield against demands from certain quarters,
including some mayors and legislators, to review and repeal
the incineration ban under the country's Clean Air Act (RA 8749),
which is looked up to and celebrated by environmentalists worldwide.
In a letter sent today to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
the signatories argue that amending the law to permit the introduction
of incinerators will not magically wipe out the perpetual waste
problem of Metro Manila. "Lifting the ban is not the panacea
for wasting that is symptomatic of unfettered production and
consumption," they wrote. The Government can address the waste
problem without resorting to this (incineration) most polluting
and most expensive waste management option," they added.
Proponents of non-burn approaches to waste management caution
the Philippine government from embracing incineration as a waste
disposal option, fearing that burn technology will not only
contaminate the environment with toxic pollutants but drain
the country's financial resources, increase its indebtedness
to foreign creditors and put additional burdens on taxpayers.
They believe that huge capital investments and operating costs
for waste incinerators will use up funds for recycling and resource
recovery programs, undermine the potential for recycling-based
economic development and strip poor people of decent livelihood.
In their letter, the signatories observe that the Ecological
Solid Waste Management Act, the first law signed by President
Arroyo, sets a policy direction that puts prime importance on
programs to avoid waste and reduce waste size through segregation
at source, recycling, reusing and composting. They note that
establishing Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in every barangay,
as required by the law, accompanied with sustained public education
and capacity building activities, will significantly address
the waste problem and, at the same time, provide employment
and development opportunities for communities.
Another letter sent by the Save Bombay Committee, an environmental
group from Mumbai, India, underscores the state's responsibility
to protect the jobs of people who depend on recycling for livelihood
and survival. Mr. Kisan Mehta of the Indian NGO explains that
a huge number of people sustain themselves by lifting and diverting
recyclable materials to the market for reuse or by transforming
biodegradable components into compost that is essential for
improving soil fertility. Mr. Mehta pointed out, "National interests
demand that every job, however rudimentary, is protected for
our people. Solid waste reuse and conversion provide jobs to
the poor. No authority has the legal or moral right to snatch
away the only morsel of food from the poor. Incinerators impoverish
nations and people by burning away this valuable resource."
Ms. Susanne Dittke, a solid waste reduction advisor to the City
of Cape Town in South Africa, also urged President Arroyo "to
reconsider plans of investing in a potentially dangerous and
unsustainable waste treatment technology such as incineration
rather than trying to address the root of the problem which
is overproduction/consumption of increasingly non-recyclable/hardly
degradable products and the lack of industries to show a product
ownership throughout its "lifecycle"."
From the United Kingdom, Mr. Phil Scott of Sandwich Action Group
for the Environment based in Sandwich, Kent warns President
Arroyo not to repeat the mistakes of successive UK Governments
in relying on polluting waste incineration as a disposal option,
which resulted in UK being viewed as the 'Dirty Man' of Europe.
"You have the chance in the Philippines to set an example for
the rest of the world, please seize your chance with both hands,
set an example for us all," said Mr. Scott.
Quoting Dr. Paul Connett, a British chemistry professor and
Zero Waste advocate based in New York, USA, Mr. Scott reminds
President Arroyo that:
"When you build an incinerator in your community you are advertising
to the world that you were not clever enough, either politically
or technically, to recover your discarded resources in a manner
which is responsible to your local community or future generations."
For more information, please contact the GAIA Secretariat at
gaia.sec@surfshop.net.ph
or at telephone numbers 9290376 or 4364733.
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