Cement plant + plastic waste = saving planet? 

To help reduce the country’s solid waste generation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is urging cement manufacturers to explore ways to utilize plastic waste as raw material and help cut half of the country’s garbage problem.

“When all these cement plants will participate, we can dramatically reduce the volume of plastic waste which will be now regarded as raw material of the cement plants in their current processing,” DENR-Environment Management Bureau Director William Cuñado said in a news statement.

He said several cement firms have already adopted the conversion of plastic waste into energy in the country.

“This measure will reduce by 40 percent to 60 percent the volume of plastic waste,” he pointed out.

The DENR-EMB chief also said that the participation of local government units (LGUs) through their solid waste management efforts would contribute to the decrease in plastic waste volume.

Cuñado noted that the conversion of plastic waste into raw material for cement plants would result in the reduction of plastic waste generated in cities and municipalities.

DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Panning and International Affairs and department spokesperson Atty. Jonas R. Leones also pointed out that cement plants could recycle campaign materials made out of plastics that are being used for the May 2022 elections.

“Plastic tarpaulins are also used in co-processing, in energy. These are mixed into cement as fillers; sometimes these are used to create pots,” Leones, who held the position of EMB director during his early years in the DENR, pointed out.

“Plastic tarpaulins are melted to have some other products out of these plastics,” he added.

While the Philippines has been implementing Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 for more than 20 years, the country is facing a looming garbage crisis.

With its estimated population of over 100 million, the country produces around 40,000 tons of garbage every day or 14.6 million tons of garbage annually. Metro Manila produces slightly less than a quarter of that figure with around 9,000 tons every day.

Environmental groups pushing for zero waste solutions questioned the DENR’s proposal and branded the use of plastic waste as fuel in co-processing and waste-to-energy as “false” environmental solutions.

WASTE and pollution watchdog EcoWaste Coalition said plastic waste as an alternative raw material or fuel for cement manufacturing does not address the root problem of the plastic pollution crisis, and could even potentially do more harm than good to the environment.

“Cement kilns, incinerators, and other combustion units burning waste, especially chlorinated materials, release harmful pollutants into the environment,” Coleen Salamat, Plastic Solutions Campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition, said.

“Before any blanket endorsement is made on this disposal scheme for plastic waste, we urge the authorities to make publicly available independent studies, as well as verified monitoring reports, presumably used by DENR to justify its push for such a scheme,” she said.

To improve the recyclability and circularity of plastics, the government should draw up real solutions such as policies that prevent and reduce the volume and toxicity of plastic waste without aggravating the already alarming climate crisis, Salamat stressed.

‘Toxic emissions’

SOUGHT for reaction, Greenpeace said using plastic waste as fuel in co-processing and waste-to-energy produces significant amounts of toxic emissions and greenhouse gases, further aggravating the plastic pollution and climate crises.

“Plastic-to-fuel schemes are false solutions which do not result in the behavioral changes or systemic shifts our planet needs. They instead incentivize continued waste generation and dependence on plastic. We only get one side of the story from the proponents of such schemes, as local governments and the wider public are not well informed about the risks. The costs of refuse-derived fuel and waste-to-energy on human and environmental health are considerable. They’re essentially converting plastic pollution from waste to another form—air pollutants,” Marian Frances T. Ledesma, Zero Waste Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, said.

“The Philippine government should not be encouraging or investing in technology that compromises the safety and health of people and the environment,” she added.