nate the water system.
Nevertheless, Greenpeace and some other environment groups oppose waste-to-energy projects, arguing their green credentials are often exaggerated and that they create a financial incentive for more rubbish to be dumped.
“The only way to address the issue of methane generation from waste is to stop the rubbish going to the landfill in the first place,” Greenpeace Philippines programme manager Beau Baconguis said.
“Having such projects in place encourages the generation of waste, rather than eliminating it, because you need waste to run the facility.”
Baconguis said there was no vision from the Philippine government to reduce waste, and that Manila’s roughly 12 million residents were producing between 6,000 and 8,000 tons of rubbish every day.
However Fernan Campos insisted Pangea was not lobbying for, or encouraging, more waste to be dumped at Payatas.
She said the local government had implemented recycling and other waste-reduction policies in recent years that had seen the amount of rubbish going into the landfill drop from 1,800 tons a day to 1,200.
“We are just clearing whatever is there, and helping the environment at the same time,” she said.