Senate committee on energy chairman Sherwin Gatchalian proposes the passage of a law that will establish the framework on waste-to-energy (WTE) technology and facilities that will deal with the country’s worsening problem on garbage disposal.
Gatchalian in a statement said the absence of a WTE law discourages investors on the technology since pioneers in the country have either faced disputes with local government units or merited violations from other government agencies.
Gatchalian’s Senate Bill No. 363 seeks to provide a framework for the entire value chain of WTE facilities to ensure the uninterrupted supply of waste as feedstock.
He said the law will encourage the development of new technologies in the treatment and disposal of solid waste while providing much needed power.
Citing a report from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Gatchalian said only 30 percent of barangays nationwide or 12,614 out of 42,045 are practicing segregation which effectively fails the goal to reduce, reuse and recycle.
The lawmaker said there are also 331 illegal dumpsites still operational in the country which may be solved by the adoption of WTE facilities in the treatment and disposal of solid waste.
Gatchalian pressed the DENR, Department of Energy and the Department of Science and technology to come up with their own collaborative study to look at the capacity, potential for energy and environmental concerns that will be involved for such policy.
Gatchalian said based on the National Solid Waste Management Commission’s projection of yearly waste generation that the country will produce trash worth 20.51 metric tons in 2030 from the current 16.63 MT.
He added that it is already crucial for the country to have its own WTE law especially that other Asean nations such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have already implemented theirs.
