Environment group rejects proposals to amend Solid Waste Management Act
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 January) — Environmental group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) rejected proposals to amend the 25-year-old Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act to allow the construction of the waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration projects in the country.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, IDIS called any move to amend RA 9003 as “premature and misleading” because it has not been fully or faithfully implemented even after more than two decades since its passage.
The group was responding to Environment Secretary Raphael Lotilla’s statement last Tuesday that RA 9003 should be revisited to amend certain provisions to allow WTE projects, which the current law prohibits.
It warned that amending the law to pave the way for WTE incineration technologies would be taking a “dangerous step backward,” undermining environmental protection, public health, and climate responsibility.
It stated that RA 9003 was enacted precisely to “shift the country away from disposal-oriented, end-of-pipe solutions and toward sustainable practices, such as waste reduction, segregation at source, reuse, recycling, and composting.”
“Amending the law without exhausting its existing, proven solutions undermines the very purpose of the law. The problem is not that the law is outdated. The problem is that it was never properly carried out,” the environmental group said.
It maintained that incineration projects should not be considered as a solution to the waste problem caused by urbanization and landfill shortages, emphasizing that these technologies merely “present a false solution to a governance failure.”
The group said that thousands of barangay-level materials recovery facilities (MRF) across the country have yet to be established and that “waste segregation and diversion remain weak.”
According to the group, local government units have failed to enforce the law’s key provisions on barangay-level segregation, establishment of MRFs, waste reduction at source, composing, and recycling.
It added that these gaps in the implementation of RA 9003 highlight the need to enforce it fully, rather than dilute it with another amendatory measure.
In Davao City, the local government has been pushing for the construction of a WTE incineration project to address the solid waste problem, which local environmentalists have consistently opposed due to its potential hazardous impact on the environment and public health.
In August 2022, the City Council of Davao passed a resolution urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to provide a counterpart fund worth ₱3.486 billion for the WTE project.
The resolution, authored by 1st District Councilor Temuin “Tek” Ocampo, said the country should seize the opportunities offered by the Japanese government to avail of technical and financial assistance to develop sustainable ways of managing solid wastes.
IDIS said investing in incineration technologies “would divert resources away from proven, low-cost, community-based solutions, such as waste reduction programs, composting systems, and support for the recycling sector.”
The group pointed out that incineration only addresses “waste symptoms” and fails to tackle the root causes of the country’s waste crisis, which stems from weak enforcement, lack of political will, underfunded local systems, and poor accountability.
“A large portion of waste in the Philippines is biodegradable, meaning it cannot be meaningfully used in incineration and instead should be managed through composting and diversion strategies,” IDIS said.
The group also warned that modern incineration technologies “generate toxic emissions, hazardous ash, and long‑term health threats to nearby communities, particularly in urban poor areas where such facilities are often sited.” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
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