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DENR Shipments From Australia To Be Used As Fuel Not Garbage
DENR Shipments From Australia To Be Used As Fuel Not Garbage
DENR Shipments From Australia To Be Used As Fuel Not Garbage
garbage
cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/5/23/denr-emb-customs-fuel-holcim-australia-mismis-oriental.html
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 23) — The Environment Department said shipments
from Australia intercepted in Misamis Oriental were not garbage as it is a source of fuel.
A separate letter from Geronimo Sañez, DENR-EMB hazardous waste management section
chief, addressed to Metodio Turbella, EMB director, states the products have undergone
processing in Australia.
The EMB said PEF "is comprised mainly of industrial and commercial recyclable materials
such as plastics, cardboard, paper, textile, waste timber and other inert materials."
Holcim Philippines Inc. (HPI) imported the materials for use in its plants.
Despite the EMB posing no objection to the shipments, the BOC was alerted to and an
inspection was made and showed that it contained "shredded municipal wastes" such as
scrap plastic, cellophane, wrappers, textile, stones, and soil among others.
Apart from stones and soil, the EMB said the shipments "conformed with the acceptable
waste" for PEF and "meets the waste acceptance criteria of HPI."
"In addition, the source of the imported PEF was found to be Resource Co., which is a
market leader in alternative fuels manufacturing such as the production of PEF," it said.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, HPI said the EMB cleared the materials in the
shipment from Australia in line with Section 4 of DENR Administrative Order 2010-06:
Guidelines on the Use of Alternative Fuels and Raw Materials in Cement Kiln.
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HPI said the materials in the shipment were "accurately and truthfully declared" as PEF.
"Holcim Philippines’ importation and use of PEF as alternative fuel for its cement kilns is
pursuant to its objective of contributing to the ongoing efforts to address the global waste
problem," it added.
[Translation: We saw in the declaration that there was a difference. In the Customs
declaration, that shouldn't happen, there should only be one. In their declaration, they put
in two: fuel or processed engineered fuel but when you put in the tariff, which is the
classification of any shipment, what appears is municipal waste.]
"Kaya may [That's why there is an] apparent violation as far as Customs law is concerned,"
he added.
"Ang tanong, pareho ba yang dalawang yan? Ang pinagpipilitan nila, pareho lang yan [The
question is, are they the same? They insist it is]. But I beg to disagree because Garbage is
garbage, fuel is fuel."
At a media briefing Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said, "We will not
allow ourselves to be dumping ground of trash."
CNN Philippines correspondent Carolyn Bonquin and senior digital producer Pia Garcia
contributed to this report.
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