Philippines' biggest waste-to-fuel facility opens

ABS-CBN News

Posted at Jun 24 2015 05:16 PM | Updated as of Jun 25 2015 01:16 AM

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MANILA The country's largest refuse derived fuel (RDF) facility dedicated to producing fuel from
waste was launched Wednesday in Pasig City.

Private construction firm IPM Construction and Development Corp. led the launch together with

the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Pasig City government.

"We're excited to launch this project and officially start its operation as we celebrate World
Environment Day and as the Philippines observes Environment Month this June," Pasig City Mayor

Maribel Eusebio said.

The RDF facility, which aims to address concerns on increasing municipal

solid waste and disposal, can process 600 tons of trash per day to produce
alternative fuel for cement plants.
The co-processing of RDF from municipal solid wastes for cement plants is
an environment-friendly technology used in other countries.
The facility is majority-owned by Basic Environmental Systems &
Technologies, Inc. (BEST), a subsidiary of listed Minerales Industrias Corp.
(MIC), and France-based Lafarge Industrial Ecology International.
IPM will operate and manage the facility. -- With a report from Doris
Bigornia, ABS-CBN News
Pasig plant turns trash
into fuel
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:11 AM June 25, 2015

Mayor Maribel Eusebio photo: pasigcity.gov.ph

The Pasig City government on Wednesday inaugurated what it described as the

countrys largest facility for converting garbage into fuel.

The refuse-derived fuel (RDF) facilitya joint project of the Pasig government with
IPM Construction and Development Corp. (IPM) and the Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority (MMDA)can process 600 tons of trash a day, almost
equivalent to the amount of garbage collected daily in the city.

Mayor Maribel Eusebio said the RDF facility would produce fuel pellets from trash
to be supplied as alternative fuel to cement plants like those of Lafarge group in the
Philippines.

The facility is majority owned by Basic Environmental Systems & Technologies

Inc.a subsidiary of publicly listed Minerales Industrias Corp. and France-based
Lafarge Industrial Ecology International.

The facility mechanically segregates waste, selecting garbage with high thermal
value to be shredded, made into pellets and wrapped into bales.

The facility is expected to convert 25 percent to 35 percent of the processed waste

into alternative fuel for cement kilns.

The facility addresses serious concerns on increasing municipal solid waste and
disposal, Eusebio said. The RDF facility also complies with the waste diversion
requirement of Republic Act No. 9003, or Ecological Solid Waste Management Act
of 2000 [and] also addresses climate change issues associated with how municipal
waste [is] managed.
This is the largest RDF facility in the Philippines to date, said Isabelita P. Mercado,
president of IPM which operates and manages the facility on Sandoval Avenue.

This is also a pioneering endeavor to save the environment by reducing our

dependence on fossil fuel, she added.

MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino, meanwhile, urged local government units in Metro
Manila to put up a waste-to-disaster management system which could produce
methane to speed up response and recovery operations after an earthquake.

According to Tolentino, methane which is principally used as fuel and in the

generation of electric power could be utilized for the post-earthquake massive
recovery and rehabilitation program of the government.

As we are all preparing for a major earthquake, it is but appropriate to also

conceptualize and develop a waste to disaster management system because energy
will be very essential after a disaster, Tolentino said during the inauguration of
Pasig Citys RDF facility.

He added that the waste-to-disaster management he was proposing was similar to

that utilized by the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve under which it
maintains a fuel reserve for emergency use.

We have about 8,200 tons of garbage hauled daily from Metro Manila. If we can
allot at least .5 percent of it for our energy reserve, we can be assured that we have
energy to use after an earthquake or any disaster, Tolentino said. Ronnel W.
Domingo and Maricar Brizuela