July 10, 2000 will forever be etched in the hearts of the people of Payatas. On that fateful day, an avalanche of garbage buried 218 people and left 300 families homeless, mostly scavengers, who make a living out of the garbage dumped in Payatas. Payatas is a dumpsite located in the 2nd District of Quezon City and is a few kilometers away from where I live. It has an approximate land area of 2,818 hectares, 18.4% of it is home to people living in informal settlements. Ten years after the Payatas tragedy, Metro Manila is still mired in trash. Despite the tragedy, both local and national governments were not able to institute changes and legislation to solve the burgeoning garbage problem except for the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 which was signed into law six months after the tragedy.
Though we have become experts in segregating our solid waste as biodegradable, recyclable and non-biodegradable, Metro Manila is still beset with problems on where to dispose its garbage given that its population is growing by leaps and bounds. It is obvious that waste segregation is not enough though it has given livelihood to the people living at the dumpsite's vicinity either as scavengers, scrap dealers and junk yard owners. It is ironic that what provided food on the table to these people could also be the one which claimed the lives of some of their loved ones.
One of the waste reduction processes available to man since the 1800s is incineration. Incineration involves the combustion of organic substances contained in garbage. Waste is put into a furnace called an incinerator. What is an incinerator? From Wikipedia, an incinerator is a furnace for burning waste. It is used to burn trash and other types of waste until it is reduced to ash. It is made of heavy, well-insulated materials so that heat cannot escape otherwise the waste will not be burned completely or rapidly.
Arguments against incineration ranged from the heavy soot and foul odor that are emitted during the process to the minute particles, dioxin and furan, that are released to the environment. Dioxins and furans are regarded to be highly toxic and can cause reproductive problems, damage the immune systems and can also cause cancer. Greenpeace, a non-governmental organization which focuses on environmentalism and peace through direct action, lobbying and research, has been successful in banning the use of incinerators in the Philippines through the Clean Air Act in June, 1999. The Philippines is the first country to ban incinerators.
These arguments could be true of the old incinerators. A few days while I was researching on the topic of incinerators, I came across Blackhole Incinerator of Nika Engineers which addressed all these arguments. It busted the myths that incinerators emit dioxin and furan and leave behind toxic residue (ash). Because of new developments in technology and air pollution control devices, there is a drastic reduction in dioxin and furan and ash residue is sterile and can be disposed in a normal landfill. Aside from these, incineration reduces the volume of garbage by 90-95% thereby prolonging the life of landfills. Also, incinerators require only a small area compared to landfills which have to be huge.
Since technology has already answered the concerns on the use of incinerators, isn't it the right thing to do for lawmakers to take a second look at the Clean Air Act and amend it where necessary? Was the passing of this act into law instrumental for the Payatas tragedy? (The Clean Air Act was signed by then Pres. Joseph Estrada a good eleven months before tragedy struck.) Just asking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incineration#Arguments_against_incineration
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-incinerator.htm
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/
http://www.ehow.com/facts_6888654_history-incinerators.html
http://deevio.tripod.com/mixednuts/land.html
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