Manila — Environmental health group Health Care Without Harm-Asia Pacific (HCWH-AP) today raises alarm over a proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to be entered into by the Mayor of Davao City to use Pyroclave technology to address the disposal of hospital waste. The same proposal is currently in negotiation in Davao del Norte, Cagayan de Oro and Cebu City.
“We would like to point out that contrary to claims of RAD Green Solutions, the proponent of Pyroclave technology, that this is not a non-burn technology,” said Merci Ferrer, HCWH-AP Director “The name is clear ‘pyro’ meaning fire.”
“Proper disposal of medical waste is very important and we have been campaigning to hospitals and the Department of Health on how to treat and handle infectious medical waste,” said Ferrer. “We would like to emphasize that there are available clean technologies in the country that we can use such as microwave and autoclave.”
The Clean Air Act banned the use of incinerators for both solid and medical waste making the Philippines the only country in the world to ban incineration.
The Philippines is likewise among the eight participating countries to the UNDP-Global Environment Facility which aims to reduce environmental release of dioxins and mercury by promoting best techniques and practices for reducing and managing health care waste. In the Philippines, the project is promoting the use of non-burn technology specifically autoclave. The DoH is the implementing agency of the project.
According to the website of RAD Green Solutions, Pyroclave reduces waste to its original form and turns them into carbon within 15 to 20 minutes using intense heat. The gas produced inside the chamber is collected, processed then re-introduced into the burners as fuel.
“We would like to warn the City Council and other local government officials to be wary of incinerators-in-disguise proposals,” said Ferrer.
The 2000 EU directive on incineration states that incineration plant means any stationary or mobile technical unit and equipment dedicated to the thermal treatment of wastes with or without recovery of the combustion heat generated. This includes the incineration by oxidation of waste as well as other thermal treatment processes such as pyrolysis, gasification or plasma processes in so far as the substances resulting from the treatment are subsequently incinerated.
“It is clear that what they are promoting is incineration,” said Ferrer. “But the bigger question is how a dirty technology such as Pyroclave received a certification from the DoH.”
In 2011, Special Rapporteur Calin Georgescu to the UN Human Rights Council called for an end to the incineration of medical waste in order to protect human health and the environment. He is pushing for the replacement of incineration as a disposal method of hazardous medical waste with more environmentally-friendly and safe methods of disposal, such as autoclaving.
“Again, we need to go back to proper management of waste through waste minimization, segregation and then proper treatment and disposal of infectious waste which more often than not is just 15% of all the waste produced in the hospital.
“We have documented hospitals around the country who managed their waste properly and successfully without resorting to burning,” said Ferrer.
The group will be sending a letter to the City Council of Davao and other localities to present a strong case against using technologies that is harmful to the environment.