MANILA -- Mundo Verde Corporation, in partnership with the Quezon local government, officially launched a waste processing facility in Payatas to support the waste management efforts of Quezon City.
The facility will help reduce the volume of waste in the Payatas landfill and produce Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), an alternative fuel that can be used in the cement-making process.
More than 1,500 metric tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is being generated daily within Quezon City alone. The RDF facility is expected to process approximately 30 percent of the MSW in Payatas and yield a significant amount of RDF, which will then be supplied to the Luzon-based cement plants of Lafarge Republic Inc.
Payatas landfill operator and one of the shareholders of Mundo Verde, IPM Environmental Services Inc., noted that the project will help prolong the life of the sanitary landfill, and provide jobs to residents of communities around the area.
Currently, 53 individuals from the Payatas waste picker’s cooperative are employed at the RDF facility.
Meanwhile, leading cement manufacturer Lafarge Republic Inc., the main customer of MVC, confirmed that the RDF produced will help achieve the goal of the company to substantially reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
This initiative aims to reduce waste buried in the landfill and provide cement plants with alternative fuel to reduce their dependence on non-renewable sources of energy.
RDF is produced by separating the non-combustible from the combustible components of solid wastes. The combustible portion is then processed into a shredded and plastic-wrapped bale that can be safely and efficiently transported to the cement plants and used as alternative fuel while simultaneously manufacturing cement in a single combined operation. This process, called “co-processing,” is the preferred waste-management method over land-filling since the energy and minerals coming from wastes are almost completely utilized during the process.
The RDF project was conceived as part of Lafarge’s sustainability ambition to increase its use of alternative fuel through use of RDF from municipal solid waste.
Lafarge Industrial Ecology International S.A. collaborated with IPM Environmental Services Inc., the landfill operator and hauler of Quezon City, and Pennies and Pounds Holdings Inc., which has expertise in engineering consultancy for the cement industry, forming the consortium Mundo Verde Corporation. (PR)