PRESS RELEASE: NGOs vow to back project to ecologically eliminate PCBs

NGOs and individual advocates of public health, chemical safety and environmental justice expressed support for a groundbreaking project to safely and ecologically eliminate the country’s stockpiles of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) minus combustion.

In a statement presented during a forum themed “Working Together for a PCBs-free Philippines” at the conclusion of the June environment month, some fifty individuals representing more than thirty NGOs initially expressed their support for the project, which is called the “Non-Com POPs Project” for it’s non-employment of combustion in the safe destruction of PCBs and other POPs.

During the forum, Environmental Management Bureau’s (EMB) Ms. Angie Brabante, national focal point for the Stockholm Convention on POPs and Engr. Edwin Navaluna, national coordinator for the “Non-Com POPs Project,” gave straightforward discussions about PCBs, their hazards, and the need to immediately deal with them in an ecological manner through the United Nations backed project.

Navaluna announced further that “construction of the non-combustion treatment facility at the Philippine National Oil Company – Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC) industrial park in Mariveles, Bataan should be underway this August.”

Ms. Helen Cervantes of PNOC-AFC increased further the NGOs confidence about the project with her talk about the company’s sincere commitment and efforts in addressing community concerns about the project.

According to the NGOs’ statement, the Philippines would benefit greatly from the project health- and environment-wise as this would help the country:

1. Fulfill the Constitutionally-guaranteed rights of the Filipino people to health and to a balanced and healthful ecology;

2. Abide by the Chemical Control Order on PCBs issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that directs the phase out of PCBs by 2014;

3. Build its capacity to manage the stockpiles of PCB oils and PCB-contaminated equipment and materials through a robust, closed-loop non-combustion technology in line with the incineration ban under the Clean Air Act and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

4. Carry out its obligations under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) requiring governments “to prohibit the production, import, export and use of all PCBs,” and implement the “Action Plan Addressing PCBs” in the National Implementation Plan for the said treaty.

5. Set a good example for developing countries in the safe and environmentally-sound management of POPs stockpiles that avoids the unintentional release of dioxins and furans, which the newly-formed PCBs Elimination Network (PEN) can learn from and replicate.

In concluding their statement of support for the project, the NGOs called on EMB to “pursue the inventory and monitoring of all [of the country’s] stockpiles of PCBs” and ensure that all such chemicals are duly accounted for and safely managed for subsequent treatment at the project facility in Bataan.

The NGOs also appealed to the “Bureau of Customs to remain vigilant against the probable entry of PCB transformers disguised as ‘recyclables’ or ‘donations’ for rural electrification as other countries get rid of their own stockpiles of PCBs.”

Finally, in acknowledgement of the necessity of “working together to realize a toxics-free future,” the NGOs committed to “educate the public about PCBs and the project, and participate in efforts to ensure the safety of our ecosystems and our people, especially our children, women, industrial workers, waste handlers, and informal recyclers, against exposure from PCBs and other harmful chemicals.”

The lively forum also saw the launched of the EcoWaste Coalition’s latest superhero – The PCB Eliminator – to help in raising public awareness about PCBs and the “Non Com POPs Project.”