RP Asked to Focus on Recycling as Tool to Fight Climate Change

As the country joins world leaders in the crucial week-long climate
talks in Tianjin, China this week, the Philippine delegation is being
urged to include in its priority the discussion of livelihood benefits
of recycling in the country as an important tool to combat the
ill-effects of climate change.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-led climate
talks in China is the final leg of negotiations that will be leading
up to the UNFCCC Climate Change Summit in Cancun, Mexico in December.

“We urge the delegates to incorporate zero-waste strategies, such as
waste prevention, reduction, reusing, recycling and composting into
the global climate action plan to shrink greenhouse (GHG) gases and
other toxic releases in the waste sector,” Global Alliance for
Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) co-coordinator Manny Calonzo said.

“At the same time, we join the recyclers, including the waste pickers,
in seeking recognition and support for their role in cutting GHG
discharges through the retrieval of reusable and recyclable discards
from the waste stream,” he added.

Calonzo noted that GAIA will be releasing its report in Tianjin on
Wednesday titled “Respect for Recyclers: Protecting the Climate
through Zero Waste,” to seek the attention of the Philippine
representatives.

The report, written by GAIA waste and climate campaigner Neil Tangri,
warned against the promotion of “waste-to-energy” and landfill gas
technologies as “climate solutions.”

Tangri also pointed out in the report that mass burn incinerators and
incinerator variants, such as gasification, plasma, pyrolysis and
“refuse-derived fuel” (RDF) technologies are severe sources of GHG
releases, emitting 33 percent more carbon dioxide than do coal-fired
power plants to produce the same amount of energy.

“Yet rather than supporting these efforts, climate funds such as the
Clean Development Mechanism are subsidizing incinerators and landfill
gas systems, which compete directly with recycling and increase
emissions, unemployment, and public costs. A new, non-market, climate
finance mechanism is needed to support the formalization and expansion
of the informal recycling sector,” Tangri said.

Posted in: Fight Climate Change