Environmental groups have called on Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to stop using the "garbage crisis" to push for the legalization of waste incineration under the guise of waste-to-energy (WTE) projects. Glenn Ymata of No Burn Pilipinas said Gatchalian has been citing government data to justify what he calls a "garbage crisis" and to condition the minds of the public to accept his proposal of allowing waste incineration in the country. "Sen. Gatchalian’s proposal for waste incineration will only turn the situation from bad to worse," Mother Earth Foundation chair Sonia Mendoza said. "For every four trucks of waste incinerated, at least one truck of ash residues is produced that needs to be disposed of in landfills as well. Ashes from burnt materials are more difficult to manage than ordinary garbage because these residues contain contaminants which are dangerous to human health and the environment, hence we will need more engineered sanitary landfills for the ash from the WTE incinerators and this is a big added cost to our waste management," she added. Gatchalian is the principal author of Senate Bill 1789 or the Waste-to-Energy Bill. Once the proposed legislation is approved, burning of waste through the incineration process becomes legal, which is prohibited under the Clean Air Act and Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. Apart from worsening toxic pollution, the proposal will only benefit the plastics industry and foreign waste management companies, the groups said. "If only the National Solid Waste Management Commission and DENR did their job in identifying non-environmentally accepted products (NEAP) like single use plastics, our residual waste can be reduced significantly to eight percent or measly 1.67 million metric tons," EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator Aileen Lucero said. "Should the Gatchalian proposal become law, the only real winners would be foreign waste management companies, the plastics industry and the corporations who profit from the continuing use and proliferation of sachets and other throwaway plastics. Plastics are the ideal feedstock for these waste-to-energy plants, and they provide a convenient escape hatch for plastic polluters to evade their responsibility for dealing with the pollution associated with their products," Break Free From Plastic global coordinator Von Hernandez said.