By Manny C. Calonzo
EcoWaste Coalition and Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (NGO partners of the UNIDO “Non-Combustion POPs Project”)
(Published in Success stories: Stockholm Convention 2001 – 2011. 2012. To download this publication, go to http://chm.pops.int/Convention/Media/Publications/tabid/506/Default.aspx)
The
Philippines today stands at a historic juncture in its quest to protect the
environment and the health of its people with the construction of a
ground-breaking national treatment facility for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
While it
has never manufactured PCBs, the Philippines has accumulated at least 6879 tons
of PCB-containing equipment and wastes from past imports of electrical
transformers, most of which are to be found in electric utility, industrial,
manufacturing and commercial plants and facilities.
After
years of scrupulous planning and action to get through a plethora of
challenges, the first ever non-combustion facility for destroying PCBs, touted
as the first of its type in a developing country in Asia and the Pacific, was
built in the province of Bataan, to assist the industry, the government and the
people in meeting national as well as global phase-out requirements for PCBs.
Nationally,
the Chemical Control Order (CCO) for PCBs issued by the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2004 bans the production,
importation, sale, transfer, distribution and use of PCBs in open-ended,
partially enclosed and totally enclosed applications. By 2014, or after a
ten-year grace period, the use or storage for reuse of PCBs, including
PCB-contaminated equipment, article, packaging and waste, will no longer be
allowed.
Globally,
the Stockholm Convention on POPs, which the Philippines ratified in 2004, also
bans the production of PCBs, giving Parties until 2025 to phase out the use of
PCB-containing equipment and until 2028 to treat and eliminate recovered PCBs
(environmentally sound management).
To meet
these national and global requirements on PCBs, the Philippines has embarked on
a multi-stakeholder Non-Com POPs Project which began in 2008, and which has,
from all indications, helped the country in dealing with limitations such as
the inadequate inventories of PCBs, the absence of locally available
technologies for effectively destroying POPs and the scarce financial resources
for the huge costs involved in managing PCB stockpiles.
In close
collaboration with private and public sector partners and with generous support
from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO), the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau led
and shepherded the project that saw the eventual establishment of a facility
operated by the Philippine National Oil Company – Alternative Fuels Corporation
(PAFC) in Mariveles, Bataan.
The
Non-Com POPs Project aims to ensure the environmentally sound destruction of
the country’s PCBs in the said facility through a closed-loop,
non-incineration, sodium-based dechlorination technology.
The
project integrates all essential components of a sustainable, ecological and
socially-responsible approach to eliminating PCBs, such as: 1) the conduct of
PCBs inventory and continuing data verification; 2) the maintenance, handling,
and interim storage of PCB-containing equipment; 3) the transfer of technology,
including the meticulous training of personnel; 4) public-private stakeholders’
participation; and 5) public information and outreach, particularly in host
communities.
The
project conforms with Article 6 of the Stockholm Convention that requires
Parties to manage POPs wastes, including PCBs, in a manner protective of human
health and the environment. Specifically, Article 6 directs Parties to handle,
collect, transport and store such wastes in an environmentally sound manner,
and to dispose such wastes in a way that the POP content is destroyed or
irreversibly transformed.
The
technology operates in a closed-loop system, with a total destruction
efficiency approaching 100%, to prevent the uncontrolled release of by-product
POPs and other environmental pollutants of concern. It is commercially
available and is used in Japan for managing PCBs.
The project further takes pride
in ensuring strong civil society participation in all stages of the project
development and implementation, in line with Article 10 of the Stockholm
Convention on “Public Information, Awareness and Education.”
For
instance, from 2010 to 2011, public information activities were undertaken by
participating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other project partners
to enlighten community members about the initiative, collect feedback and
channel their concerns to the authorities for further action. Hundreds of local
residents have participated in such activities.
Among the
NGOs that have provided critical input and support for the project are the
EcoWaste Coalition, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and Greenpeace
Southeast Asia, along with Ban Toxics, Health Care Without Harm, Mother Earth
Foundation and many other groups.
Plans are
underway to strengthen the Multipartite Monitoring Team to ensure that
legally-required environmental, health and social standards and requirements
are duly complied by Non-Com POPs facility.
Also, to
ensure sustained public awareness about PCBs and deter illegal disposal
operations that can lead to the reuse and recycling of PCBs and
PCB-contaminated equipment, environmental health groups led by the EcoWaste
Coalition came together in March 2011 to launch the “Bantay PCBs” or PCB Watch:
“The EcoWaste Coalition adopts and supports the establishment of Bantay PCBs to
bring about the needed participation of various sectors toward attaining a
united action to complement the government’s efforts for the safe and
ecological management and destruction of PCBs,” the group said.
By
working together, the Philippines hope to protect their people and the
environment from PCBs. For more information about the Non-Com POPs Project:
