Press Release
December 2, 2008

Turn waste into energy, says Trillanes

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV answered the call for more practical legislation to address societal and environmental problems by filing a bill on waste-to-energy technology (WTE).

His bill would amend RA 8749 or the Clean Air Act of 1999, with a revision to promote and permit the use of WTE technology through incineration, its most common implementation. The said technology is widely used in Japan, where advances in emission control designs, with strict standards and monitoring system, have reduced pollutants from incineration as a mode of waste disposal.

RA 8749 prohibits the use of obsolete incinerators as it is identified as one of the primary sources of high carbon emissions. As a result, local governments have shifted to landfills and open dumpsites as modes of waste disposal. However, landfills and dumpsites have created more environmental problems such as harmful methane emissions; seepage of toxic liquids to our underground water sources; and lack of acceptable disposal sites.

"WTE technology would solve two major issues our society is facing today: energy shortage and garbage disposal. It provides for the safe disposal of waste without harmful emissions to the atmosphere, while transforming our huge volumes of garbage into much-needed energy," says Trillanes.

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