More than 90% of the cars on the road in the country use batteries that can be recycled after an initial lifespan; however, only licensed businesses are able to complete the laborious recycling procedure.
Evergreen Environmental Resources Inc., a significant recycling business in Bulacan, the Philippines, runs cutting-edge facilities that can collect 99 percent of the lead-acid, the primary constituent of used lead-acid batteries (ULAB), as well as 68 percent of paper and paperboard, 25 percent glass, 63 percent of yard trimmings, and 9 percent of plastics from those batteries that are being recycled.
So, you see, almost 99 percent of those recycled batteries are being plowed back to the same battery companies that collect these ULABs from their customers.
One of these is Motolite, the most reputable battery company in the nation, which has its “Balik-Baterya Program” and takes care of the recycling through its authorized recycler, the EERI. Ulabs should only be handled, disposed of, and recycled correctly since they are extremely dangerous and can pollute the environment.
Since I am aware that they have the necessary infrastructure to dispose of it, I made it a point to sell the old Motolite when I used it as well. Yes, they do pay a fair amount for those that are already used rather than selling them to a magkakalakal. Motolite transports all of these spent batteries to EERI for recycling before returning them to Philippine Batteries Inc., the company that makes Motolite and is also located in Sta. Maria, Bulacan.
According to Chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) Jesus Arranza, a bombshell exposing the anomalous and illegal export of lead scraps typically derived from these ULABs was dropped last week.
This occurred when the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between FPI and Motolite was signed (the marketing and communications heads, Alexander Osias and Max de Leon, were present). The agreement calls for the two parties to cooperate in further purging the environment of the ULABs that cause contamination across the many FPI member organizations and contributors.
The “Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990” and its implementing regulations are set forth in Republic Act (RA) 6969 and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order (DAO) 2013-22, respectively, and place a ban on the export of these hazardous wastes.
When the nation of origin has the capacity to recycle them, it is against policy to export hazardous wastes like lead scrap and ULAB. How did these shipments manage to go through the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and even appear in the PSA export statistics if there is no DENR clearance? How come the DENR and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) haven’t kept track of who these exporters are?Arranza enquired.
Approximately 500,000 ULABs, weighing an average of 15 kilograms each, were shipped by the Philippines from January to August of last year, according to statistics from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Given how these exporters are managing and destroying their accumulated ULABs, which are classified as hazardous wastes, this is a highly risky scenario. “Did they simply toss them in the garbage or into the water? The DENR, DTI, BOC, and other government organizations have to investigate this unlawful behavior, according to Arranza.
So, who exactly is responsible for exporting these dangerous goods, and where do they ship them? Arranza promised to investigate this phenomenon further.