EVALUATION OF E-WASTE GENERATION POTENTIALS IN METRO CEBU, PHILIPPINES

The implementation of enhanced municipal SWM systems is mandated with the Republic Act 9003, also called Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of the Philippines. Although RA 9003 contains various prescriptions and tools to improve material recovery and waste disposal, the management of electronic waste (EWM) was not integrated yet. However, electronic goods import and application steadily increases in the Philippines, whereas industrial, commercial and municipal sectors are not prepared for EWM yet. So far, a large portion of E-waste either ends up at local dumpsites or is recovered by the informal sector without needed knowledge and tools to dismantle electronic equipment in a proper manner. Consequently, valuable resources are lost during recovery, whereby the recovery process itself often results in health hazards for involved workers through fumes and particle emissions, or causes soil and air pollution due to burning of E-waste performed to recover metals in a perceived "fast and easy way". To address E-waste issues, the development assistance project "Solid Waste Management for Local Government Units in the Philippines", supported by the German International Cooperation, conducted a survey to clarify E-waste generation potentials for Metro Cebu, an urban conglomerate with around 1.6 Mio inhabitants located in the central Visayas. The assessment of E-waste generation focused on households, whereas this research distinguished between low-, middle- and high income households, but also considered E-waste generation from industrial, institutional and commercial sectors.