“If you produce the garbage, you deal with it––you do not dump in on your neighbor’s front yard.”
This, according to Luntiang Pilipinas Party-list first nominee Michael Ubac, is the logic behind calls to prohibit the importation of plastic waste and for the government to ratify amendments to the Basel Convention, an international treaty that seeks to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, specifically to prevent the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries like the Philippines.
“This will send a strong and clear message to the international community that the Philippines is not a dumping ground for their waste.”
Ubac said Luntiang Pilipinas was throwing its support behind EcoWaste Coalition––a non-profit environmental health organization working towards a zero waste and toxics-free society––which had recently written Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy A. Cimatu and Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director Metodio Turbella to urge the agencies to review and update current regulations that still allow the importation of solid plastic waste materials and electronic assemblies and scrap into the country.
In its March 11 letter to Cimatu and Turbella, EcoWaster Coalition President Eileen Sison said “the Canadian and South Korean plastic garbage dumping incidents, as well as the regulatory developments in Asian countries following China’s ban on 32 categories of solid waste, including scrap plastics, justify an urgent and participatory review of the above regulation.”
Sison explained that several of the country’s Asian neighbors, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India have already taken steps to ban the importation of plastic waste into their country.
“In the interest of protecting our people’s health and the environment, the EcoWaste Coalition believes that the Philippine government should jump on the bandwagon and join China and other countries in banning the importation of foreign waste, particularly plastic and electronic wastes,” said Sison.
According to the environmental advocate, “this will send a clear message to the global community, including waste traders and traffickers, that the Philippines is not a dumping ground for garbage from overseas.”
EcoWaste explained that with China now banning the importation of waste, “wastes from developed countries destined for China are now being diverted to other developing countries.”
“For example, there have been increased waste exports from South Korea to the Philippines following China’s ban. Data from the Korea Customs Service published in November 2018 indicate that 2017 waste exports from South Korea to Philippines rose from 4,398 tons to 11,588 tons after China closed the door for plastic waste and other waste imports from overseas,” added Sison.
Ubac said that “public interest demands that we join China and other countries in banning the importation of foreign waste, particularly plastic and electronic refuse.”
“This will send a strong and clear message to the international community that the Philippines is not a dumping ground for their waste. Basura nila, i-dispose nila ng maayos sa bansa nila (it’s their garbage, let them dispose of it properly in their own country),” stressed the multi-awarded journalist.
Ubac said Luntiang Pilipinas Party-list “agreed 100 percent” with EcoWaste Coalition’s recommendations to the DENR and EMB, which include conducting consultations to review of current regulations allowing the importation of solid plastic waste materials and electronic assemblies and scraps as per DAO 2013-22; drafting a new policy phasing out the importation of solid plastic waste materials and electronic assemblies and scraps; and updating the communication to the Basel Convention to prohibit the import of scrap metals, solid plastic materials, electronic assemblies and scrap materials, used oil and fly ash.
“Luntiang Pilipinas Party-list “agreed 100 percent” with EcoWaste Coalition’s recommendations to the DENR and EMB.”
The other recommendations include support for the adoption of the Norway amendment on plastics at the 14th Conference of the Parties in May 2019; and ratification by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Basel Ban Amendment that seeks to prevent the transfer of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries for any reason, which will then be transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.