By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net
ENVIRONMENT Secretary Lito Atienza is asking mobile phone users to be careful when disposing of their mobile phones, batteries, and chargers, warning that these could have potentially toxic chemicals.
These chemicals can leak into waterways or escape into the air and could cause danger to human health.
Likewise, some of the parts from mobile phones can mix with other harmful substances in dump sites or sanitary landfills, posing even more danger.
“Improperly disposed cell phone batteries or e-waste is the new hazard of our high-tech age, particularly in the Philippines, which is considered the texting capital of the world. We must therefore ensure that like other garbage, our electronic waste is properly handled,” Atienza said.
As such, the DEN has recently started a new program aimed at putting designated drop-off points for discarded mobile phone parts, particularly the batteries.
The project, simply called “Cell Phone Waste Collection and Recycling,” is a joint undertaking of the DENR-National Solid Waster Management Commission (DENR-NSWMC), the Department of Trade and Industry-Board of Investment and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
DENR has also partnered with mobile phone manufacturers such as Alcatel, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, as well as mobile network service providers Globe Telecom, Smart Communications and Sun Cellular for the project.
The goal is to put 20 collection bins in three Metro Manila malls, namely, Ayala Malls Glorietta and Greenbelt in Makati City, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City and Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City.
The collected waste will be sorted and stored in a temporary storage area at the malls and will later be collected by HMR Envirocycle Philippines for recycling.
DENR-NSWMC Executive Director Zoilo Andin said that there is a growing number of mobile phone purchases in the country, which translates to an increase in disposal of used batteries and other potentially hazardous cell phone electronic waste. These could be improperly disposed and mixed with the municipal solid wastes.
The group also formed a technical working group to provide technical knowledge and monitoring for the implementation of the project, which would still be in its pilot phase. Members of the technical working group are representatives from the cell phone manufacturers, network service providers, commercial establishments, transport and storage facilities and the National Telecommunications Commission.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I’m a bit confused here. From what I have heard, this project was INITIATED by the Department of Trade and Industry - Board of Investments with technical assistance and funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) not DENR. Though DENR is also a partner on this project, they are not the lead implementing agency.
I have even heard that Sec. Atienza was not present when the said project was launched.
I found some article on the internet, check this out:
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2007/09/21/oped/rox.pe.a.e.ssue.html
I don’t have anything against the Secretary, I just think that it is not good to claim other people’s efforts for………
November 9th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I hope they will also do the same for the AA batteries and alike. These items widely used in our country are also hazardous to our environment.
October 9th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I think different types of waste needs different ways of proper disposal. We had heard about different campaigns on waste segregation and the like i guess..
It’s their job to initiate different campaigns for the environment, maybe one problem at a time, and its for US to SUPPORT and PARTICIPATE if we find these campaigns useful…
October 6th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
why focusing on a single battery of a celphone? there’s a lot of problem in the environment that needs attention in the local area like ours in gen. tinio, nuev ecija. illegal logging is part of the business in this town from which the local officials are being blinded from their illegal acts. they do not care about what will happen in our environment as long as the “lagay” or “ibinoto ko si *”*&(**& you will be excused. sec. atienza should visit this town to see the real problem and the effect of this on climate change!
September 26th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
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