DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 April) – Japan’s waste-to-energy (WTE) technology will not harm the environment or local communities in Davao City and, if implemented, could serve as a model for addressing the country’s solid waste problem, Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuya Endo said.
In an interview at the Consulate General of Japan in Davao on Friday, Endo said Japanese technology is sustainable and environment-friendly, citing its use in several cities in his county to manage waste.
“If you visit Tokyo, Osaka, or various places, there are quite many waste-to-energy facilities, and we live with that even in the middle of a very big city. Utilizing the current technologies, I think, the waste technology will not harm the environment,” he said.
The local government has been pushing for the construction of the WTE project, with the proposed 11-megawatt facility located at Sitio Pungot, Purok 6, Barangay Biao Escuela, Tugbok District.
“The existing sanitary landfill facilities can even be more harmful to the environment. With the existing technology, for example, Japanese companies, I think we can establish an environmentally friendly, sustainable, waste-to-energy facility if things go well,” Endo said.
Davao City-based Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) expressed concern over the construction of a WTE facility in Davao.
It said incineration projects should not be considered as a solution to the waste problem caused by urbanization and landfill shortages, emphasizing that these technologies merely “present a false solution to a governance failure.”
The group said that thousands of barangay-level materials recovery facilities (MRFs) across the country have yet to be established and that “waste segregation and diversion remain weak.”
It said local government units have failed to enforce barangay-level segregation, the establishment of MRFs, waste reduction at source, composting, and recycling.
The diplomat added that Japan also faced its own waste problem decades ago, but the country was able to overcome it through the use of WTE facilities.
“Many years ago, Japan had lots of environmental degradation issues, both in the quality of air and in terms of the quality of water as well. But it was the technology that helped us overcome those challenges,” he said.
He added that WTE facilities across many cities in Japan are “working, managed, and operated very well without any health or environmental problems to the public community.”
According to the project description for scoping posted on the Environmental Management Bureau-Davao website, the proposed project has an estimated cost of P5 billion, which will be implemented through a grant aid concession scheme.
The city generates an estimated 700-800 tons of municipal solid waste daily, which is disposed of at the sanitary landfill in Barangay New Carmen, Barangay Tugbok.
It noted that the local government believes the proposed project would provide “integrated solutions by reducing waste volume, recovering energy, reducing landfill dependency, and supporting the city’s long-term sustainable solid waste management strategy in line with national environmental and renewable policies.”
The proposed project, it added, can also “enhance environmental sanitation, improve air and soil quality, and mitigate the public health risks associated with conventional landfill operations, aligning with international best practices in sustainable urban waste management.”
“I have visited some of the landfill facilities here in the Philippines, and it can sometimes be dangerous, and sometimes it can produce some smells, and I think our existing technologies can help address those matters,” Endo added. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
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