ֱ

Environmentalists urge policy reform as toxic waste rises in Philippines

Special Environmentalists urge policy reform as toxic waste rises in Philippines
Residents walk past trash including plastic waste strewn along Baseco Beach in Manila on September 21, 2024. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 10 sec ago

Environmentalists urge policy reform as toxic waste rises in Philippines

Environmentalists urge policy reform as toxic waste rises in Philippines
  • Country’s waste management system ‘cannot cope’ with rising production, consumption, Greenpeace warns
  • Number of illegal dumps surged by 84% in 2024, posing health risks to local communities

MANILA: Philippine environmental groups are calling for immediate policy reform after official data showed that the country’s annual hazardous waste levels increased to more than 269,000 metric tonnes annually, fueling concern over public health threats.

The Philippines’ toxic waste generation increased by 13 percent last year from about 238,000 metric tonnes in 2023, with oil comprising about one-third of the total, according to data published by the Philippine Statistics Authority last week.

Though it is one of the lowest volumes recorded based on figures compiled since 2015, the latest data set showed that the Philippines is producing hazardous waste at a faster rate compared to the development of waste management infrastructure.

Despite the number of trash processing facilities and sanitary landfills increasing in 2024 by about 8.7 percent and 14.7 percent, respectively, the number of reported illegal dumps rose by 84 percent in the same year.

“It’s still alarming because the infrastructure can’t catch up,” Jashaf Shamir Lorenzo, head of policy development and research at BAN Toxics, told Arab News on Thursday.

The rising number of illegal dumps concerns observers as the sites usually involve open burning or the burying of hazardous waste underground.

“There is a big health and environmental impact here for everyone … all of these harmful chemicals that could lead to various health issues like neurodevelopmental issues, cancer … (they) increase the risk of communities around them getting these diseases,” Lorenzo said.

“I think (the sites are) also a reflection of the number of wastes that we are really generating that other cities can’t handle. But also, it calls for the need for the government to pay attention to the protection of these communities.”

While the Philippine government has made efforts over the years to improve waste management in the country, environmentalists like Lorenzo say there is still room for improvement.

This includes preventing the illegal waste trade, as the Philippines has been a major destination for such exports over the years, including shipments of toxic chemical waste intended for dumping.  

“A lot of the waste coming into the country, historically, has been hazardous waste traded by other countries into us. I think the government should really push for policies that limit hazardous waste coming in,” Lorenzo said.

He is also urging the government to “look at other solutions on waste reduction,” including by installing reuse and refill systems across the country.

The increasing volume of waste in the Philippines is “not surprising,” said Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Marian Ledesma, who is also pushing for policies focused on reducing waste.

“Downstream approaches like waste management simply cannot cope with increasing patterns of production and consumption … the government must enact policies that reduce or prevent waste from the start,” she said.

This includes banning the commercial use of harmful chemical groups in products, phasing out single-use products and packaging like plastics, and regulating hazardous chemicals.

“While the country is taking steps toward better and sustainable waste management, it can improve on upstream measures that prevent or reduce waste generation,” Ledesma said.

“Upstream approaches like cutting production and phase-outs or bans are necessary, have clear benefits for communities and are more cost-effective in the long term.”


Ukrainian parliament approves new government, lawmaker says

Ukrainian parliament approves new government, lawmaker says
Updated 10 sec ago

Ukrainian parliament approves new government, lawmaker says

Ukrainian parliament approves new government, lawmaker says
The new cabinet includes two of Svyrydenko’s former deputies

KYIV: Ukraine’s parliament voted in favor of a new government under prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko on Thursday, according to lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

The new cabinet includes two of Svyrydenko’s former deputies — Oleksiy Sobolev as minister of economy, agriculture and environment, and Taras Kachka as a deputy prime minister for European integration — as well as Svitlana Hrynchuk as energy minister.

Man jailed in UK after releasing rats outside mosque

Man jailed in UK after releasing rats outside mosque
Updated 2 min 10 sec ago

Man jailed in UK after releasing rats outside mosque

Man jailed in UK after releasing rats outside mosque
  • Edmund Fowler caught on CCTV committing offense 4 times 
  • Mosque manager: Community members ‘scared of further harassment’

LONDON: A man has been jailed in the UK after being filmed dumping wild rats outside a mosque in the city of Sheffield, The Independent reported on Thursday.

Edmund Fowler, 66, was caught on film unloading the rodents from the back of his car outside Sheffield Grand Mosque. Footage showed the rats running through the mosque’s fence into the grounds of the building.

Fowler did this a further three times between May and June before being charged. He pleaded guilty to four counts of racially aggravated harassment at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court, which sentenced him to 18 months in jail and banned him from going near a mosque for a further 18 months upon release.

The mosque’s manager said in a statement that community members “are scared of further harassment and are now too scared to come to the mosque.”


French court overturns town’s burkini ban after woman threatened with fines

French court overturns town’s burkini ban after woman threatened with fines
Updated 16 min 3 sec ago

French court overturns town’s burkini ban after woman threatened with fines

French court overturns town’s burkini ban after woman threatened with fines
  • The seaside town of Carry-le-Rouet had implemented the ban in June 2024
  • The ban was largely irrelevant until July 2, when an 18-year-old Muslim woman from the city of Marseille went to the town’s beach

LONDON: The Marseilles administrative court has reversed a burkini ban on a French Riviera beach after police threatened fines against a teenager and her family for wearing the Muslim swimsuit, The Times reported on Thursday.

The seaside town of Carry-le-Rouet had implemented the ban in June 2024, but it was found by the court to be a “serious and illegal breach of fundamental freedoms” following the incident.

The ban was largely irrelevant until July 2, when an 18-year-old Muslim woman from the city of Marseille went to the town’s beach.

Two municipal officers spotted her in the sea and ordered her out using whistles. Her family asked what she had done wrong, and the officers said the woman’s garment was “not acceptable,” according to her brother Islan.

The police called for reinforcements. Five gendarmes who arrived later threatened the 18-year-old with fines unless she and her family left the beach.

Islan said the family then left the area. “My sister has taken it badly,” he added. “She is afraid to go out now, does not communicate with other people and avoids talking about what happened.”

The incident led to the Human Rights League seeking a court order overturning the town’s burkini ban.

Over the past decade, about 20 towns and cities on the French coast, including Cannes, have tried to ban the Muslim swimsuit on secular grounds, though almost all the bans were denied or later overturned.

In 2004, France banned Muslim headscarves in schools after MPs decided that the garment violates the secular values of the state education system.

Niqabs and burqas were outlawed in public in 2011 based on concerns that criminals could conceal their identities using the religious garbs.


Protester in UK threatened with arrest by armed police over Palestinian flag

Protesters wave Palestinian flags at the Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Parliament, in central London, on June 4.
Protesters wave Palestinian flags at the Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Parliament, in central London, on June 4.
Updated 4 min 35 sec ago

Protester in UK threatened with arrest by armed police over Palestinian flag

Protesters wave Palestinian flags at the Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Parliament, in central London, on June 4.
  • Laura Murton, 42, held signs saying ‘Free Gaza’ and ‘Israel is committing genocide’
  • Amnesty International UK describes footage of incident as ‘very concerning’

LONDON: British armed police threatened a peaceful protester with arrest under the Terrorism Act after accusing her of supporting Palestine Action, the activist group that was banned earlier this month.

Laura Murton, 42, held signs saying “Free Gaza” and “Israel is committing genocide” at the demonstration in the city of Canterbury, The Guardian reported on Thursday.

Officers told her that she had expressed views supporting Palestine Action. Neither of the signs held by Murton mentioned the group by name.

Murton, who filmed her encounter with the armed police officers, asked whether she supported any banned groups and replied: “I do not.”

One officer told her: “Mentioning freedom of Gaza, Israel, genocide, all of that — all come under proscribed groups, which are terror groups that have been dictated by the government.” He added that the phrase “Free Gaza” expressed support for Palestine Action.

The government’s proscription of the group means it is an offense to express support for it and is punishable by law.

The officer accused Murton of committing that offense, and said she would be arrested unless she provided her name and address, which she did.

Murton told The Guardian: “I don’t see how anything I was wearing, how anything I was displaying, anything I was saying, could be deemed as supportive of the proscribed group.

“It’s terrifying. I was standing there thinking, this is the most authoritarian, dystopian experience I’ve had in this country, being told that I’m committing terrorist offenses by two guys with firearms.

“I ended up giving my details, and I really resent the fact I had to do that because I don’t think that was lawful at all.”

Lawyer’s representing Palestine Action’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, said in court submissions that the group’s proscription would likely produce a “wide chilling effect on speech and assembly of those seeking to speak out against Israel’s serious violations of international law.”

One of the officers who confronted Murton said: “We could have jumped out, arrested you, dragged you off in a van.” The police were “trying to be fair” in dealing with her, he added.

Murton said she was motivated to protest because “day to day, people are getting killed (in Gaza), and I can’t handle that … I can’t handle sitting and doing nothing.”

Amnesty International UK’s law and human rights director, Tom Southerden, described the footage as “very concerning.”

He added: “We have long criticized UK terrorism law for being excessively broad and vaguely worded and a threat to freedom of expression. This video documents one aspect of exactly the kind of thing we were warning about.”


Magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits off Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara

Magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits off Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara
Updated 17 July 2025

Magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits off Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara

Magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits off Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara

JAKARTA: A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit off Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province on Thursday, with a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) depth and no tsunami potential, the country’s geophysics agency said.

There were no immediate reports of damage.