UNIDO head commends PH for NonCom destruction facility

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/06/30/unido-head-commends-ph-for-noncom-destruction-facility/

A top official of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has commended the Philippines for its state-of-the-art facility in Bataan province where the country’s stockpile of toxic industrial chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is being destroyed.

UNIDO Director General Li Yong was welcomed and assisted by officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) led by Undersecretary for Attached Agencies Sherwin Rigor during his visit to the noncombustion (NonCom) destruction facility for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs, last weekend.

The facility is located inside the petrochemical plant of the Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corp. in Mariveles town. It is operated by DENR’s corporate arm Natural Resources Development Corporation.

Li congratulated the Philippines for having the NonCom POP facility, which he cited as “one of the examples of best practices in environmental protection.”

The NonCom POPs is a UN-assisted project that aims to assist the country in eliminating its stockpile of POPs, which are chemicals targeted for global elimination under the Stockholm Convention to protect human health and the environment from their harmful impacts.

The project involves the deployment and operation of a commercially available, safe and proven non-combustion technology for managing PCBs. DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) is in-charge of overall project management.

A specialized UN agency that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability, the Vienna-based UNIDO is the implementing international agency for the project.

“What UNIDO is doing is really to support the people in this country and support the government to move ahead with environmental strategies,” Li said.

“I am happy that we have done something, not that great, but meaningful to this country and the people of the Philippines,” he added.

EMB Region 3 director Lormelyn Claudio vowed that her office—together with local government units and other stakeholders—will closely monitor the operations of the facility.

“Baseline monitoring is conducted on the facility to ensure that its operation has no adverse effect on the environment, particularly on the ground water, soil and air,” Claudio said.

The project enjoys the support of the community, the civil society and nongovernment organizations, such as the EcoWaste Coalition.

PCBs are largely found on old electric transformers contaminated with PCB which come from the power- generating industry. These are brought to the facility through a transporter accredited by the EMB.

The Stockholm Convention on POPs is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of POPs, which include cancer, allergies and hypersensitivity, damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, reproductive disorders, and disruption of the immune system.