OUR COUNTRY IS NOT A DUMP SITE
by Gregorio V. Bituin Jr.
The Featinean publication
July-August 1994
Do you want our country to become the smokey mountain of the world? If not, what should we do? In the coming years, this will happen if we will do nothing to make our country a better place to live in, especially if we will tolerate waste importation. Our country has several problems of its own regarding waste disposal. Enough is enough. Why should we take care of someone else’s garbage and worry how it will be properly disposed of?
Our country is already plagued with many environmental problems like land, water and air pollution, ecological imbalance, destruction of forests and the national biological cycle. And now, we have to deal with the toxic wastes being dumped by foreign industrial countries. Toxic wastes, whether solid, liquid and gas form, is extremely dangerous not only to the environment but also to human and other living things. The once clear and blue Pasig River is now very much polluted with toxic chemicals, factory trash materials and human waste. Most of our rivers here in Metro Manila are heavily polluted by industrial and domestic wastes.
A famous magazine revealed in the 1993 ASEAN InterParliamentary Organization General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that Asian countries like the Philippines are being targeted to become the toxic garbage dump site of western industrialized nations. More and more countries of the world have banned imports of toxic wastes and imposed tighter environmental laws. The toxic waste traffickers are eyeing South and Southeast Asia as the place where they can legally dump hazardous wastes. We, Filipinos, should prevent these dreaded traffickers who dump their wastes in our country. Our beautiful country is not a garbage can.
Toxic waste is being "imported" by our country in the guise of cheap "recyclable" materials. These toxicants include recyclable wastes, chemical residues and industrial by-products. Greenpeace anti-toxic waste campaigner Madeleine Cobbing said that these dangerous materials are brought here because they are too dirty for the industrialized countries to accommodate them.
Among the garbage that they dump here are metal and battery scraps, plastic containers, computer junks and ash from incinerator. These contain dangerous amount of chemical elements and compounds like lead, mercury, cadmium, PCBs and the like. These waste materials cause dangerous effects on human beings. People living near the factories have complained of ash falling in their wells and on their food, which cause them to cough blood and have stomach cramps. Lead can cause mental retardation, low IQ, psychological disturbances, reading disorders and even deformities among children. Lead smelting, an industrial refining process, discharges sulfuric acid which kills marine life and can go as far as destroying farm lands.
According to Greenpeace, an international environmentalist organization, US corporations and waste brokers were able to ship to our country a total of 15,000 tons of plastic wastes in 1991, while in February-March 1992, our country received a total of 5,400 tons of plastic scraps. In 1993, 16,000 tons of lead batteries from the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Japan and Australia were shipped to our country for recycling in very unsafe conditions.
Last March 12, Greenpeace protesters have successfully blockaded a shipment of Australian lead car batteries being exported to the Philippines. Again, under the guise of recyclable materials. Two hours after the blocking, officials from Cosco, Conaust and the Maritime Workers Union agreed not to load the two containers of lead battery scraps. Five other containers of metal waste were also being closely scrutinized by Greenpeace and other officials.
Greenpeace spokesperson P. Campbell said the export of the lead wastes allows Australian companies to avoid expensive cost of waste treatment and disposal in Australia, under stricter environmental standards, while endangering the health of the Filipino people with lead poisoning. Greenpeace activists also intercepted in Manila Bay two 40-foot crates each containing 42 tons of mixed computer and electronic scraps last March 2. Those scraps were found to contain "very high level of cadmium and polychlorinated biphenyl or PCBs" which was four times the safe level. Cadmium can cause cancer and a host of other internal organ disorders. Short-term exposure to the heavy metal can cause eye irritation as well as corrosion of the respiratory tract, while long-term effects include kidney and lung dysfunction.
The toxic waste problem is not just a controversial issue of worldwide importance. This problem plagues the third world countries like the Philippines because of legal loopholes and the laxity in implementing the laws, inability to check the dangers it will cause and the absence of a truly united front to face the problems. Our local authorities have to be stricter in enforcing the law, especially RA 6969 or the Toxic Substance and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990 which clearly states the prohibition of entry, even in transit, of hazardous wastes and their disposal into the Philippine territorial limits, regardless of the purpose."
As of now, there are many movements which are concerned of the protection and preservation of a quality environment. Among them are Greenpeace, Green Coalition, Green Forum, Center for Environmental Concern, Foundation for the Care of Creation, Inc. (FCCI), Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) and the Philippine Environmental Action Network (PEAN). Among the students and the youth is the Young Environmentalists Union (YEU).
The YEU is facing a great and noble task. They are working together for great environmental changes to make our world a better place to live in. They are fighting for our right to have a clean and quality environment, unlike some other environmentalists groups which only focus on environmental awareness. YEU believes that environmental awareness alone is not sufficient. They believe that fighting for our right for a clean and quality environment needs radical solutions. If an ordinary, traditional or conservative solution can do little, we have to do something radical before it’s too late for Mother Earth to be saved.
Industrialized nations which are getting rid of their hazardous wastes, and poor countries where recycling factories import cheap trash, can make profit. The former can save the cost of expensive sanitary disposal, while the latter can extract small amounts of usable plastic or metals. However, the consequences to the environment and the human life are staggering. Industries will not be forced to cut waste and look for cleaner technologies as long as they have access to cheap and easy dumping sites and are not legally and morally prosecuted by law. To them, profit and their self-interest are their priorities. It is high time to put an end to this practice.
We must always remember that our country is not a garbage can or a dump site. We must be vigilant and take more steps against the danger of toxic waste.
- July - August 1994
by Gregorio V. Bituin Jr.
The Featinean publication
July-August 1994
Do you want our country to become the smokey mountain of the world? If not, what should we do? In the coming years, this will happen if we will do nothing to make our country a better place to live in, especially if we will tolerate waste importation. Our country has several problems of its own regarding waste disposal. Enough is enough. Why should we take care of someone else’s garbage and worry how it will be properly disposed of?
Our country is already plagued with many environmental problems like land, water and air pollution, ecological imbalance, destruction of forests and the national biological cycle. And now, we have to deal with the toxic wastes being dumped by foreign industrial countries. Toxic wastes, whether solid, liquid and gas form, is extremely dangerous not only to the environment but also to human and other living things. The once clear and blue Pasig River is now very much polluted with toxic chemicals, factory trash materials and human waste. Most of our rivers here in Metro Manila are heavily polluted by industrial and domestic wastes.
A famous magazine revealed in the 1993 ASEAN InterParliamentary Organization General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that Asian countries like the Philippines are being targeted to become the toxic garbage dump site of western industrialized nations. More and more countries of the world have banned imports of toxic wastes and imposed tighter environmental laws. The toxic waste traffickers are eyeing South and Southeast Asia as the place where they can legally dump hazardous wastes. We, Filipinos, should prevent these dreaded traffickers who dump their wastes in our country. Our beautiful country is not a garbage can.
Toxic waste is being "imported" by our country in the guise of cheap "recyclable" materials. These toxicants include recyclable wastes, chemical residues and industrial by-products. Greenpeace anti-toxic waste campaigner Madeleine Cobbing said that these dangerous materials are brought here because they are too dirty for the industrialized countries to accommodate them.
Among the garbage that they dump here are metal and battery scraps, plastic containers, computer junks and ash from incinerator. These contain dangerous amount of chemical elements and compounds like lead, mercury, cadmium, PCBs and the like. These waste materials cause dangerous effects on human beings. People living near the factories have complained of ash falling in their wells and on their food, which cause them to cough blood and have stomach cramps. Lead can cause mental retardation, low IQ, psychological disturbances, reading disorders and even deformities among children. Lead smelting, an industrial refining process, discharges sulfuric acid which kills marine life and can go as far as destroying farm lands.
According to Greenpeace, an international environmentalist organization, US corporations and waste brokers were able to ship to our country a total of 15,000 tons of plastic wastes in 1991, while in February-March 1992, our country received a total of 5,400 tons of plastic scraps. In 1993, 16,000 tons of lead batteries from the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Japan and Australia were shipped to our country for recycling in very unsafe conditions.
Last March 12, Greenpeace protesters have successfully blockaded a shipment of Australian lead car batteries being exported to the Philippines. Again, under the guise of recyclable materials. Two hours after the blocking, officials from Cosco, Conaust and the Maritime Workers Union agreed not to load the two containers of lead battery scraps. Five other containers of metal waste were also being closely scrutinized by Greenpeace and other officials.
Greenpeace spokesperson P. Campbell said the export of the lead wastes allows Australian companies to avoid expensive cost of waste treatment and disposal in Australia, under stricter environmental standards, while endangering the health of the Filipino people with lead poisoning. Greenpeace activists also intercepted in Manila Bay two 40-foot crates each containing 42 tons of mixed computer and electronic scraps last March 2. Those scraps were found to contain "very high level of cadmium and polychlorinated biphenyl or PCBs" which was four times the safe level. Cadmium can cause cancer and a host of other internal organ disorders. Short-term exposure to the heavy metal can cause eye irritation as well as corrosion of the respiratory tract, while long-term effects include kidney and lung dysfunction.
The toxic waste problem is not just a controversial issue of worldwide importance. This problem plagues the third world countries like the Philippines because of legal loopholes and the laxity in implementing the laws, inability to check the dangers it will cause and the absence of a truly united front to face the problems. Our local authorities have to be stricter in enforcing the law, especially RA 6969 or the Toxic Substance and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990 which clearly states the prohibition of entry, even in transit, of hazardous wastes and their disposal into the Philippine territorial limits, regardless of the purpose."
As of now, there are many movements which are concerned of the protection and preservation of a quality environment. Among them are Greenpeace, Green Coalition, Green Forum, Center for Environmental Concern, Foundation for the Care of Creation, Inc. (FCCI), Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) and the Philippine Environmental Action Network (PEAN). Among the students and the youth is the Young Environmentalists Union (YEU).
The YEU is facing a great and noble task. They are working together for great environmental changes to make our world a better place to live in. They are fighting for our right to have a clean and quality environment, unlike some other environmentalists groups which only focus on environmental awareness. YEU believes that environmental awareness alone is not sufficient. They believe that fighting for our right for a clean and quality environment needs radical solutions. If an ordinary, traditional or conservative solution can do little, we have to do something radical before it’s too late for Mother Earth to be saved.
Industrialized nations which are getting rid of their hazardous wastes, and poor countries where recycling factories import cheap trash, can make profit. The former can save the cost of expensive sanitary disposal, while the latter can extract small amounts of usable plastic or metals. However, the consequences to the environment and the human life are staggering. Industries will not be forced to cut waste and look for cleaner technologies as long as they have access to cheap and easy dumping sites and are not legally and morally prosecuted by law. To them, profit and their self-interest are their priorities. It is high time to put an end to this practice.
We must always remember that our country is not a garbage can or a dump site. We must be vigilant and take more steps against the danger of toxic waste.
- July - August 1994
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