Several groups have rolled out a new electronic waste (e-waste) recycling facility that would be safer to the humans and to the environment.
Globe Telecom Inc., the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Integrated Recycling Industries, Inc., the Ecological Waste Coalition of the Philippines and the local government unit through the Global Environmental Facility are jointly undertaking a community-based treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facility for e-waste in Dampalit, Malabon.
The project will give training to informal recyclers on the associated risks to human health and the environment of e-waste.
Once fully operational this month, the facility aims to process at least 15,000 cathode ray tubes (CRTs) or glass video displays from computers and television sets.
The facility will directly benefit the livelihood of several residents in barangays Dampalit and Longos in Malabon and Capulong in Manila that will collect and dismantle unwanted electrical and electronic equipment such as CRT televisions, refrigerators, electric fans and mobile phones to salvage precious metals and other valuable parts they can sell.
The facility is also meant to avoid the exposure and improper handling of toxic materials found on e-waste like polybrominated diphenyl ether, bromine and other heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium, barium and beryllium.
The TSD will also benefit six active garbage trader groups and two junk shops in Dampalit as well as associations of waste recyclers with more than 50 active members in total in Longos and Capulong.
The TSD in Malabon is the second community-based facility for e-waste. The first facility was created in Barangay Bagong Silang, Caloocan City last year.
In 2019, the UN Environment Program reported that only 20 percent of e-waste is recycled, many of which by hand in developing countries, exposing workers to hazardous and probable carcinogenic substances with the other 80 percent ending up in landfills that contribute to pollution.
