Sunday, July 3, 2011

Makati urged to expand drive towards mercury-free city

An environmental watchdog has commended the government of Makati City for its pioneering initiative to make the country’s premier business and financial capital “mercury-free.”

“Makati’s effort to raise public awareness about the need for environmentally-sound management of mercury-containing lamp waste is a feat worth replicating by other local government units,” said Thony Dizon, Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect.

“We urge the Makati authorities to expand and sustain this beneficial program beyond the June to September 2011 timeframe to make it truly effective,” he said.

“We also hope to see Makati introducing more trailblazing measures to keep the city’s homes, schools, businesses, clinics and hospitals free from mercury hazards,” he suggested.
Makati City, in partnership with Zuellig Building, has so far collected 1.58 tons of discarded lamps and batteries that were deposited in custom-built recycling bins located at the Makati City Hall in Barangay Poblacion, Zuellig Building in Makati Avenue corner Paseo de Roxas and in the Barangay Urdaneta office.

The spent lamps are then sent to a government-accredited treatment, storage and disposal facility located in Marilao, Bulacan for proper resource recycling.

To make the program more accessible to Makati’s nearly 600,000 residents, the EcoWaste Coalition has requested Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay to install more lamp recycling bins in the city’s 33 barangays.

“Apart from the barangay halls, we suggest putting secured lamp recycling bins in other places frequented by the public such as in churches, markets and schools,” Dizon stated.

“It will surely help if the City Council will pass the first-ever ordinance establishing a system for environmentally-sound management of mercury-containing lamp waste to prevent mercury contamination of regular trash,” he pointed out.

“Such a system would necessitate, among other essentials, a sustained public information drive, the integration of the city’s informal recyclers such as the waste pickers into the scheme and the imposition of fines and penalties for improper lamp waste disposal,” he added.

To make Makati City “mercury-free,” the EcoWaste Coalition urged Mayor Binay to seriously consider instituting other practical measures to curb mercury releases, particularly from intentional sources such as mercury in laboratories and schools, in cosmetics and in medical devices.

Specifically, these measures would include:

1. Ordering schools to remove and discontinue use of mercury compounds and mercury-containing equipment to prevent chemical spills;

2. Directing regular market surveillance to rid shops of banned personal care products such as mercury-tainted skin whitening creams; and

3. Auditing hospitals and clinics to check their compliance with the phase-out and storage of mercury in health care facilities.

“Makati City, we further hope, can push the government into adopting and enforcing effective national mercury control laws and regulations, as well as support the ongoing process for a comprehensive and robust global mercury treaty,” the EcoWaste Coalition emphasized.

Exposure to mercury, a heavy metal with chemical symbol “Hg,” can cause significant adverse health effects.

According to the United Nations Environment Program and the World Health Organization, “the primary targets for toxicity of mercury and mercury compounds are the nervous system, the kidneys, and the cardiovascular system.”

“Other systems that may be affected include the respiratory, gastrointestinal, hematologic, immune and reproductive systems,” the agencies said.

8 comments:

luckyniki - Casino in Japan
The most exciting casino in Japan has a selection of games from more than 300 vendors. 코인카지노 The game is powered ラッキーニッキー by the EvoTote. There 샌즈카지노 are also casino game

Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained!
토토사이트
경마사이트

I think this is a sublime article, and the content published is fantastic. This content will help me to complete a paper that I’ve been working on for the last 2 weeks. It was a difficult 2 weeks, but I am glad the work is done now.
바카라사이트
사설토토

Your website quite a bit up fast! What host are you the use of? Can I am getting your affiliate hyperlink on your host? I desire my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol
majortotositecom
racesitepro
oncasinositenet
totopickpro

Wild Fireworks เกมสล็อตออนไลน์ pg slot เกมใหม่ล่าสุด สล็อตไม้ไฟ เฉลิมฉลองเงินรางวัลก้อนโต เกมสล็อตทำเงิน เกมใหม่ รูปแบบการเล่นสุดทันสมัย เอฟเฟ็กสุดอลังกาล ฟีเจอร์โบนัสฟรี ทำเงินได้รวดเร็วที่สุด เบทน้อย กำไรไว เเจ๊คพอตเเตกง่าย เเตกหนักที่สุด เล่นง่าย กำไรไว สล็อต ไม่มีขั้นต่ำ ถอนได้ไม่อั้น สล็อตวอเลทถอนได้ บริการ ฝาก-ถอน AUTO 24 ชั่วโมง.

Most of the cosmetic products have mercury in it. I think avoiding cosmetic products will hugely reduce the mercury in the city. But it's a good measure to inform this to schools and hospitals. Excellent. I never thought this. Because they also having mercury in their labs. Great writing by you with valuable information. This is a worthy post. Thanks for sharing this post. Expecting more blogs from the author which is useful for us. Online Solicitation Of a Minor

I have learned a lot from your post. hope that you will have more new articles in the near future. DUI Lawyer Amelia VA

A much needed post for the current scenario. Your blogs are wonderful and it mainly focuses on chemical free environment. Good work and keep doing it. Keep posting more informative blogs. Bankruptcy Fraud Lawyer

Post a Comment