Philippines: Davao City considers waste-to-energy project

Philippines: Davao City considers waste-to-energy project

The city government here is contemplating on a having a waste-to-energy
(WTE) project to improve waste management and prolong the lifespan of the
sanitary landfill.

City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) head Ivan Cortez told reporters
on Wednesday that they are evaluating the proposal of a Japanese company
that develops a WTE project but they are open to proposals of other
companies.

He said that the minimum volume requirement of wastes to be fed into the WTE
facility will be around 600 metric tons to sustain its operation but the
city's daily wastage averages only at 500 MT.

Cortez also acknowledged the position of the environmentalists against any
WTE project in the city, fearing it will even encourage the public to create
more garbage to meet that minimum requirement.

He said the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) is now
looking for two new areas in the city for sanitary landfills in the north
and the south because the seven-hectare sanitary landfill in New Carmen,
Tugbok, which was opened in 2010, has almost exceeded its capacity.

Cortez said that the new landfills will measure about 15 hectares each - 10
has. for the landfill alone and 5 has. for the WTE.

He said the landfills will be put in two locations to cut cost on trucking
services.

Some environmentalists are objecting the construction of WTE projects
because these produce the most toxic chemical substances that are
detrimental to the environment and human health.

Dr. Jose Emmanuel, a former chief technical advisor on Global Environment
Projects of the United Nations Development Programme, said in an
environmental forum in December 2016 that "all thermal WTE technologies
produce the most toxic substances known to science. I am a scientist and
also an engineer."

"In science, the most toxic chemical we know are a group of compounds known
as dioxins. Dioxins are produced by all of these WTE technologies," he said.

Waste-to-energy is the process of producing energy in the form of
electricity and/or heat from the incineration of waste, he said.

Emmanuel said the Philippines does not have the capability yet to manage any
WTE technology and to commission vigorous and expensive testing to monitor
the level of the WTE plant is releasing into the environment.

"Dioxins are toxic even at very, very small concentrations. For example, if
you put one drop of dioxin into a lake, that is enough to produce harmful
effects on people who eat the fish in the lake," he said.

Emmanuel said people who are exposed to dioxins are at risk of getting
cancer, dysfunction of ovaries in women, reproductive disorders in men whose
mothers have been exposed to dioxin, and reduced IQ level among the
children.

"The moral issue is that if you release dioxin today, that dioxin will
remain in our environment for at least 40 generations. So that means we are
not only endangering ourselves and our children. We are endangering our
great, great, great, great, and great grand children because it will take a
long time for dioxin to disappear from the environment," he warned.

Emmanuel urged the government to study the proposals of the more advanced
countries, particularly Japan, in putting up a WTE plant here.

He said WTE companies are able to offer these technologies at a lower price
because they reduce the pollution control mechanisms that will prevent the
release of dioxin into the air.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2017/03/davao-city-considers-waste-to-e
nergy-project/

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com