Cebu City officials, led by Mayor Tomas Osmeña, are checking a waste-to-energy (WTE) facility operated by a Chinese firm in Bangkok, Thailand to determine if such could be applied in the city’s Inayawan landfill.

“WTE doesn’t create as much energy as a normal power plant, but our objective in Cebu is to dispose of our garbage in the most economical and environmentally friendly way as possible. The electricity is just a happy bonus,” Osmeña said in a Facebook post.

Similar plants, he said, already exist in areas like Singapore and Japan.

Osmeña lamented that the Philippines may be the last population-dense country in Asia that had yet to implement WTE.

“The plant I am looking at is a sight to behold. Five hundred tons of garbage are burnt here every day to make electricity,” said Osmeña.

Among those who accompanied Osmeña in his visit to the plant, over the weekend, were Department of Public Services (DPS) head Roberto Cabarrubias, city environmental consultant Nida Cabrera and Councilor Mary Ann De Los Santos.

The emissions from the facility pass Euro industrial standards, and its byproducts could be used to make bricks, said Osmeña.

The bricks, he said, could also be used by the city to fix roads, while water emissions are clean enough for fish to swim in it, he added.

Prior to his visit to Thailand, Osmeña was in Singapore to accompany his brother, Serge, who was scheduled to undergo surgery.

The mayor has been reviewing proposals from different firms to put up a WTE facility inside the 17-year-old Inayawan landfill which was ordered permanently closed by the Court of Appeals (CA) last December.

According to Cabrera, the facility in Bangkok is one of three plants operated by firms who have expressed their intent to operate a WTE facility in Inayawan.

The two other facilities, run by a Canadian and a Japanese firm respectively, were visited by the officials last month, said Cabrera.

Officials flew to Japan to check on the Japanese firm’s facility; while the Canadian proponent showed a sample plant in Lapu-Lapu City which processes only hazardous wastes.

Cabrera refused to name the firms as City Hall, she said, was still awaiting formal, unsolicited proposals from the three firms.

She said that so far, the three firms have only informed the city of their intent to put up a WTE facility in Inayawan.

The city eyes a public-private partnership (PPP) with the firm that can give the best proposal; however, Cabrera said that this may take time as a feasibility study will have to be conducted on any PPP proposal.

“Our priorities in choosing the best proponent is that the facility should not contaminate our soil and water and must pass emissions standards. We also consider financial and economic aspects as well as its sustainability,” Cabrera said in an interview over Facebook messenger.

12 March 2017
By Jose Santino S. Bunachita