THE Waste-to-Energy (WTE) technology presented by the Kitakyushu representatives to the Davao delegation November of last year was an “old technology” and the Interface Development Interventions (Idis) is still against the implementation and construction of such facility in the city.
According to Idis acting executive director Chinkee Golle, their representative Dr. Jorge Emmanuel, who was sent to Japan, together with other Davao City government representatives, have seen first-hand the technology offered by the city of Kitakyushu.
Golle, who was the guest during the weekly press conference Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao Monday, January 8, said Emmanuel had already submitted a 42-page recommendation letter to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and they are currently waiting for the mayor’s response.
“If what was shown to them in Kitakyushu during their visit is the exact technology that will be built in Davao City, Dr. Emmanuel said he does not approve of it because it is actually an old technology. Also they did not promise that there will be a monthly monitoring. Instead, they promised a once a year monitoring of the dioxin. And once a year monitoring does not guarantee that WTE emissions are really safe,” Golle said.
In an earlier interview with Emmanuel, he emphasized the looming danger that the WTE has especially of the toxin it emits known as dioxin. He said dioxins are powerful cancer-causing chemical that a single drop to a lake can cause harmful effects to people who are, for example, going to eat the fish coming from the lake. He said the effect of dioxin can reach up to 40 generations and cannot be eradicated by either simple burning or simple burying.
On November 26, the City Government of Davao paid Kitakyushu City, Japan a visit primary to see the WTE technology that they are using for their solid wastes.
Representatives of Ecowaste Coalition and Sustainable Davao Movement were sent. Aside from Emmanuel who is a scientist of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the other representative sent was Dr. Doris Montecastro, a chemist and chair of the Environmental Science Department of the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU).
Shortly after the visit to Kitakyushu, the mayor said that their visit does not signify sure investment to the WTE just yet.
“If we can already receive the note, document, or letter from the government of Japan that they have interest for a WTE in the city, that’s the only time we can be certain because for now, we do not plan to allot money in our budget to build a WTE plant,” she said in an earlier interview.