GROUPS CALL FOR E-WASTE IMPORTS BAN

IN observation of International Electronic Waste ( e- waste) Day on Wednesday, environmental health groups EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace Philippines urged the government to follow the example of Thailand and ban the importation of e-waste.

“The Thai policy banning the entry of e- waste was imposed to protect public health and the environment from toxic pollution resulting from the dirty recycling of these hazardous waste imports. It’s high time for our own government to follow in the footsteps of Thailand and enact a sweeping ban on the importation of e-waste, plastic waste and other wastes for environmental health and justice,” Thony Dizon, chemical safety campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition, said in a statement.

Marian Ledesma, campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines, said that “with our neighbors closing doors to all kinds of waste imports, our country is in danger of becoming the most preferred destination in the region for waste.”

“The Philippine government must plug all holes that allow our country to be a dumping ground by ratifying the Basel Convention Ban Amendment and enacting a total ban on waste imports,” she added.

EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace Philippines asserted that banning e- waste imports would serve as a strong deterrent against schemes to transfer hazardous waste and other wastes from other countries to the Philippines where such wastes can be cheaply processed, recycled or disposed of at the expense of people’s health and the environment.

They cited the botched smuggling of e-waste — falsely declared as “assorted electronic accessories” — from Hong Kong that was discovered at a port in Northern Mindanao in May 2019. As reported by customs officials, the shipment was intended as a “test cargo,” and that 70 more containers would have followed had it not been intercepted. The trash was returned quickly to the sender after its discovery.

The groups are pushing for the ratification by the Duterte administration of the Basel Convention Ban Amendment, an international law prohibiting the export of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries, and for the imposition of a more encompassing ban on waste importation.

Ratifying the Basel Convention Ban Amendment and banning waste importation, the groups stressed, will allow the Philippines to focus on its own waste management issues, fully enforce waste and pollution prevention laws, and improve clean recycling facilities with government support and possibly incentives.