A former technical advisor to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has warned that even how advance the technology is, there remains no safe limits to toxic and hazardous pollutants released when burning the garbage.
Dr. Jorge Emmanuel, who co-authored the World Health Organization's guidebook on health care waste, was joined by other experts during an online forum on Wednesday to warn the country against heading to a more catastrophic situation if waste incineration, guised as waste-to-energy project, is legalized.
He pointed out that the problem with trash burning is that it releases dioxins and furans however advance the technology.
A former chief technical advisor on global environment projects of the UNDP, an adjunct professor in Silliman University, and leader of a UN team that helped contain the spread of Ebola virus in Africa, Emmanuel pointed out that there are no safe limits when we are dealing with these toxic and hazardous pollutants.
His presentation was made available during an online forum organized by Green Thumb Coalition on Wednesday.
He pointed out that a single drop of dioxin is enough to contaminate a medium sized lake and its inhabitants. Over a long period, this toxin could be passed on to humans by eating fish, eggs, pork, poultry and other meats that have accumulated dioxins.
"Dioxins stay in our environment for hundreds of years and cause serious illnesses including cancer, birth defects and reproductive disorders among people exposed to it," Emmanuel said.
Lee Bell, POPs (persistent organic pollutants) and mercury policy advisor for the International Pollution Elimination Network (IPEN) also highlighted during the forum a recent study by the Center for International Environmental Law, which shows incineration of plastic waste generates large quantities of carbon and carbon equivalent (CO2e) emissions.
Waste incinerators, driven by high carbon content plastics and organic waste streams, currently release an average of around 1 ton of CO2 for every ton of waste incinerated, he said.
Bell noted that “368 million tons of wastes are incinerated globally per year equating to annual emissions of around 368 million tons of CO2."
"That's a huge amount of greenhouse gases added annually into our atmosphere," he added.
According to Dr. VIcky Espaldon, a professor at the University of the Philippines School of Environmental Science and Management, the chain of reaction from incineration to health and climate and then onto our food production systems will reduce harvests, affect the quality of agricultural produce and increase its costs by as high as 25 percent in the next two decades.
"An increase of 1˚C leads to about 8-14 percent decrease in rice yield during the dry season," Espaldon said citing a study conducted in 2007.
"Tread carefully as impacts are serious and it (waste-to-energy) is a huge investment, it is better to invest in making sure that RA 9003 provisions are successfully implemented," she added.
Green Thumb Coalition convenor Jaybee Garganera said the scientific evidence will be presented to legislators who are currently deliberating the passage of a bill that would allow waste incineration in the country.
"The science and robustness of evidence we have gathered will complement our collective experiences on the ground to engage our senators like (Sherwin) Gatchalian, (Francis) Tolentino, and (Nancy) Binay and make them understand the profound negative economic and health impacts of their policy actions such as the waste-to-energy law," Garganera said.
Gatchalian is the principal author of Senate Bill 1789 or the Waste-to-Energy Bill.