Efficient e-Waste Management in the Philippines

Econ 172
Prof. Agustin L. Arcenas

E-PIECE
Jessica Felize V. Babaran
Claire Kismet A. Diaz
Isis Normagne G. Pascual
Adrienne Rollaine D. Velasco

I.

Introduction

Humanity has come a long way from the Prehistoric Age to the Industrial Age until it
reached the turning point of technological growth which gave birth to the Information Age. With
this new era that started in the 1970s, the 21st century has been marked by newer advancements
and knowledge that have greatly changed the peoples way of life. It has provided easy access to
almost everything and the discovery of newer and cheaper means of production have aided the
growing consumerist culture that have given rise to the throw-away mentality in which products
are usually disposed after one use. The benefits that the Information Age has brought has all
been positive until the harms start to accrue. This is because this era comes at an inevitable cost,
which is electronic waste.
E-waste (electronic waste) is the rapidly growing stream of waste from discarded
electronics and appliances. These items include computers, televisions and phones to washing
machines and refrigerators to everything else in between. Most of these electronics or appliances
are often not obsolete, but simply outdated and traded up for the newest version. E-waste has
become a global issue borne by volume and toxicity. The amount of global e-waste has reached
41.8 million tonnes according to a United Nations University report (Balde et al. 8). In the
Philippines alone, from the year 1995 to 2010, an estimated 39.3 million electronic products
have become obsolete, 29 million were reused and recycled, 24.3 million were landfilled, and 20
million were stored in the houses (Alam 3).
In light of this, we ask the question: What is the efficient design of electronic waste
management in Philippines? This study aims to answer this essential question.

Philippine Legislation
There exists no special law on e-waste management in the Philippines. Instead, we have
the following legislations that cover e-waste. The Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act of 2000 aims to reduce and properly manage solid waste in the
Philippines through local government units who will be responsible for the collection and
handling of special wastes. In addition to RA 9003, the Republic Act No. 6969, also called the

Toxic Substance and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Act of 1990, restricts importation,
manufacturing, processing, sale, distribution, use and disposal of chemical substances and
mixtures that present an unreasonable risk or injury to health or the environment to regulate. The
Basel Convention by the United Nations Environment Program seeks to control the
transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal and currently includes over
180 participants and which the Philippines is a signatory (Gutierrez and Agarrado 16).

II.

Significance of the Study

E-waste is one of the most recent type of waste that has existed. Unlike typical solid
waste that has always been naturally present, e-waste has only emerged two centuries ago since
the discovery of electricity. From then on, technological breakthroughs happened side to side and
continuously advanced transforming our world into what it presently is modern and fast-paced.
To be able to adapt to this, people tend to follow the trend and upgrade their technological tools
such as electronic gadgets every now and then. This would lead to the obsolescence of the
gadgets they previously had, turning them into e-waste. With the accumulation of e-waste
happening at an increasing rate (Electronic Waste, WHO), it has now become a problem that
has an effect on 3 factors: one is on health because e-waste excretes hazardous substances when
not treated appropriately; another is on the economy because e-waste management and all its
derivatives has a potential to become a market that provides jobs and contributes to the national
income; and lastly, on the environment because it exceeds the capacity at which it can absorb
what has been disposed.
Therefore, this paper has been created to design a mechanism that will alleviate, if not
solve, the e-waste problem.

III.

The Ideal E-Waste Management Mechanism

Before an ideal mechanism can be devised, the characteristic of the subject matter has to
be identified. E-waste is a stock pollutant which contains harmful chemicals. It is

non-biodegradable and is composed of materials that lose their original quality when recycled.
Taking all of these into account, the ideal mechanism is to be designed using three perspectives
that comprise the overall framework, namely behavioral to induce consumers and producers to
be responsible with using electronics and handling e-waste through spreading awareness;
technological to aid in the establishment of technologically efficient disposal and recycling
institutions; and institutional to propose policies to the government that will drive producers,
consumers and institutions to act accordingly towards the goal of alleviating the e-waste
problem. These approaches cohesively weave the ideal mechanism to achieve the main objective
of the study to formulate an economically efficient and environmentally sound e-waste
management system.

IV.

Framework

A.

BEHAVIORAL

Consumer Side
One of the biggest contributors of e-waste are consumers. Because of this,
consumers have a great responsibility to society to reduce the production of e-waste. According
to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Sustainable Technology Center, one of the
reasons for the creation of e-waste is that consumers have a false sense of obsolescence, wherein
electronics are viewed as obsolete even before the usability expires (2-3). This may be due to the
lack of software, firmware and hardware maintenance done by the buyer. Another issue is that
consumers may not know where, when and how to dispose e-wastes properly (5).
Since there are low to none disposal costs for consumers in the Philippines, households
have little incentive to learn about the consequences of their actions. Consumers must also
recognize that by keeping old gadgets may also be detrimental to their health. Components of old
gadgets deteriorate over time. Batteries may start to leak, plastic becomes brittle and soldering
joints begin to break (How Do I Preserve an Unused Computer n.p.). Both circumstances may
lead to internal short circuiting and fire (Basic to Advanced Battery Information n.p.). Raising
awareness about the negative effects of e-waste, its processing, as well as its storage will make

consumers more knowledgeable and responsible in their consumption in the future. The
government may opt to spread knowledge regarding waste through, broadcast, social media,
events, seminars as well as fliers. The following are examples of publication materials used by
the Ministry of the Environment in Japan. The first picture features young children getting
involved through competition and eco-club participation. The second refers to labeling of
products that signal its level of eco-friendliness. The publication also includes a link to a site
which allows consumers to know more about various labels.

Figure 1a.

Figure 1b.
Consumers may learn more about the products they purchase through looking at the logos
present. Certain logos may indicate compliance to non-usage of harmful materials such as
mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated biphenyl
4

ethers, others may signal energy efficiency as well as the device being approved for sale by the
government. Consumers should also avoid buying counterfeit items that have the tendency of
being of poor quality which may lead to them having a short lifespan or even causing an
accident.
In an effort to reduce e-waste by prolonging a the lifespan of a device, consumers should
know which service centers are closest to them as well as which electronic companies provide
the best warranty or service.

E-waste Processors Side

As of 2000, two percent of the population of both Asia and South America depend on
e-waste processing as their main source of income (Medina n.p.). Most of these people work as
part of the informal recycling sectors of their countries. A majority of these workers belong to
developing nations. The Philippines, a developing nation, has a recovery rate of twenty to fifty
percent on disposed electronics.

Like China, the Philippines also follows a similar process of informal recycling. The
informal process chart was illustrated by Xinwen et al. n.p.).

Many of the informal recyclers do not have proper facilities and equipment to safely and
efficiently recover resources. Breaking electronics, releasing harmful chemicals, is a common
practice. This leaves them vulnerable to various harmful chemicals when attempting to obtain
profitable elements and components. The next section is a brief table of common chemicals,
where they are found as well as their harmful effects on humans (Hazardous Substances in
E-Waste n.p.).

Table 1.
In the Philippine setting, there is lack of awareness as well as initiative from the
government and consumers (Ban Toxics 10). In addition to this, there are only fourteen DENR
accredited recycling firms. To make up for the lack the mambuburaot or mangangalakal,
who are scavengers and disassemblers of disposed electronics, pick up the slack (Ban Toxics 11).
These people are part of the informal recycling sector. They are people who depend on the
reselling of components or elements of discarded electronics. Most of them hail from low
income families.
According to Ms. Castillo of Time, while it is true that some U.S. recycling centers do in
fact take apart e-waste to recover material, some centers send it abroad to less developed
countries such as China, Vietnam, Pakistan and more (n.p.). A study done in Guiyu, China, a
known e-waste recycling district, revealed that those who worked on e-waste as well as those

living in the area were receiving above safe levels of cancer causing dioxins as well as alarming
lead levels seen in seven of eight children (Castillo n.p)
Not knowing about e-waste and the its harmful effects bears heavily on those who handle
the wastes on a daily basis. Neglecting the efficient process for e-wastes also have negative
externalities. Those who do not even produce or consume electronics are made worse off from
the industry. Social cost is understated in that people who are negatively affected are not being
compensated for the damage that they are dealt.
Dangerous activities such as breaking discarded electronic devices, which releases toxic
substances such as dioxins, strong acids, mercury in order to harvest mother boards, copper wire,
recyclable plastics, CDs (E-waste Guide n.p). People who normally engage in this activity are
those who have no other means of making money (Jinglei et al. n.p.). There is little regard for
own safety when there is a sudden need. Future complications are waived off in favor of quick
cash. High poverty incidence increase the likelihood that they would have high preference for
current consumption.
To increase the awareness of e-waste processors regarding the risks they are facing when
dealing with the discarded waste, children must be educated on the consequences of handling
e-waste as well as the proper disposal methods. Barangay seminars may be held in order to teach
the adults and children. The government may adopt other techniques such as regular broadcast of
pertinent information on e-waste management as well as disseminate fliers.

Producer and Consumer Responsibility

Despite the aforementioned e-waste management issues in the Philippines, there are
initiatives, from both the consumers and producers, which try to counter the flow of damage that
electronic wastes emit. Organizations such as Giswatch, Ban Toxics and UP Circuit represent the
voices of concerned consumers who want to raise awareness about the probable destruction
e-wastes are capable of. Projects such as the E-waste Project started by the UP Circuit and online
documents from Ban Toxics are only a few of the many acts that try to stimulate responsible
consumerism among buyers. On the producers side, companies such as Globe, Nokia, SM
Supermalls, Ayala Foundation and ABS-CBN foundation hold out events related to recycling
7

electronic wastes to compromise for the damages these harmful toxins do to the environment.
Globe and Nokia, particularly, practice the take-back storage wherein the consumer gives back
the product to either Globe or Nokia and leaves them the responsibility of properly disposing it.
(Ban Toxics Organization 22)
In the private sector however, a faint little move starts to break its way in to identify itself
as an industry for recycling e-wastes. Private companies such as SGS and Envirocycle Inc. claim
to be experts in recycling, refurbishing and managing e-wastes. Their facilities are dispersed in
the cities and nearby provinces to cater to possible customers who would want to pay for their
services. Unfortunately, no existing policies impose a universal process to unify all of these
initiatives. There is no method that centralizes the people in disposing electronic wastes.
Certain e-waste management systems such as the Collective System and the
Clearinghouse System are two of the most prominent kinds of e-waste management. The
Collective System, which is implemented at a National level, is mostly funded by the producers
working side by side with municipalities that does the job of collection and storage. The
Clearinghouse System, on the other hand, involves either retailer or producer take-back storage
(Lundgren 43). These practices are prominent in relatively successful management systems
present in Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
The case study done by Sung-Woo Chung and Rie Murakami-Suzuki in 2008 analyzed
the e-waste recycling systems of Japan, Korea and Taiwan under the Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR) perspective which entails the vital role of the producer in developing a
system for recycling their e-wastes. According to the Study, two major laws have been imposed
in Japan to regulate and categorize the existing e-wastes produced by the manufacturers. The
LPUR (Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources) focuses on enhancing
measures of recycling goods while the LRHA (Law for the Recycling of Specific Kinds of Home
Appliances) focuses on recycling specific home appliances. With LPUR, products composed of
electronic components such as small batteries and personal computers are recycled through the
process of internalization meaning that the recycling fee is included in the cost of purchasing the
product. With LRHA, the take-back storage is practiced. The processes of each law differs in a
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way such that the LPUR requires the consumers to bring the product to a specific post office that
becomes a bridge to the recycling plant while the LRHA requires the manufacturer to bring the
material to its recycling sector or a commercial recycling company upon submission of the
consumer. Either way, a standardized process for e-waste management takes place in effect of
the laws in Japan. Meanwhile in Korea, only one law has been established to control the e-wastes
generated by manufacturers of electronic devices. The Law for Promotions Saving and
Reutilization (LRSR 1992) operates with the Producer Deposit-Refund (PDR), the Ministry of
Environment (MOE), the Korea Recycling Corporation (KORECO) and the manufacturers. The
process of their e-waste management is enforced by the MOEs requirement that manufacturers
should pay the recycling fee rate (also imposed by the MOE) in advance then thoroughly
supervised by KORECO. The distinct purpose of the law is to stretch the producer's
responsibility in taking care of its waste. Lastly in Taiwan, some similarities from Korea and
Japans e-waste management system is present in theirs. The manufacturers in Taiwan also
shoulder the recycling fees based on the Fee Rate Reviewing Committees (FRRC) calculation.
These fees then serve as subsidies paid by the Recycling Fund Management Committee (RFMC)
to certain entities monitored by the public auditing institutes. Otherwise, other recycling
initiatives formed by informal groups are not subsidized but not necessarily illegal either.
Overall, all of their recycling processes are somehow modelled after the Collective and
Clearinghouse system.
The similarities between the management systems of Japan, Taiwan and Korea is the
existence of a centralized institution that supervises the whole e-waste system as well as the
voluntary act of the manufacturers or producers to shoulder the recycling fees. Whether the
recycling process is done by the commercial recycling companies, the manufacturers own
recycling plant or shouldered by the consumers, the enforcement of each country's laws are quite
successful.
Albeit the e-waste management systems of these countries are properly implemented,
domestic issues relating to culture and politics still arise. For developing countries who plan to
model a successful e-waste recycling system, it is important to take into account the subjective
components that hinder the idea of an efficient management system. The recycling process
9

differs for each country since the issues pertaining recycling programs are different for each
culture.
Another issue besides the absence of a centralized institution in the Philippines is the
growing informal sector known as the mambuburaots. A case study done in China suggests
collaborative effort between the initiatives of the formal sector (private recycling institutions,
manufacturers and consumers) and the informal sector. The study of Jinglei Yu, Eric Williams,
Meiting Ju and Chaofeng Shao from the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering
in Nankai University in China proposes the idea of a financial model scheme to connect the
formal and informal sector instead of depending on the government for subsidies. Though the
study involves the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) approach, a centralized institution is
still responsible to keep the system working. In order to address the ongoing informal collection
of the mambuburaots in the Philippines, the determination of a recycling fee rate and the
ownership of the responsibility of recycling e-wastes (whether consumers or producers) is vital.
The goal is to incentivize all sectors, formal and informal, to participate in an effective e-waste
management system.

Integration and Incentives

The first step in our proposal to an effective e-waste management system is for producers
to have a proper budget by for Research and Development particularly about the hazardous
substances their products contain and what other components can replace them as well as
knowing the end-user life of the products. Producers should also have a budget for recycling that
comes with the consumers purchase that should be used and labelled as the deposit fee. To
clarify, this deposit fee is different to the recycling fees paid to the private institution for
recycling services. When the products are being retailed, the consumers should be informed
about these electronic damages, whether it be a form of a sticker or a brief explanation written on
the box of the product. There should also be a written document about the directions in
surrendering the gadgets on its end life along with the warnings e-wastes can do. It is the
retailers job to emphasize these effects along with the directions in properly disposing the
10

gadgets. When the consumer purchases the gadget, part of its cost becomes a deposit fee to
incentivize consumers to make it habitual to surrender their gadgets to recycling institutions.
They can redeem this deposit fee when the gadgets life ends. It is best to surrender the gadget
immediately so as not to devalue the deposit fee. The consumers can submit their gadgets to a
centralized institution or NGO branches around the community. These centralized institutions or
NGOs shall serve as a link between the consumers and manufacturers to the commercial
recycling institutions. It will be their job to calculate the recycling fee rates and monitor the
incoming electronic products in and out of the country. It is their job to balance the e-waste
management system. Once the consumers surrender their gadgets to them, the deposit fee will be
returned to the consumer at the same rate of the time that it was purchased. If ever consumers
decided to sell this as a secondhand product or if their gadget was stolen, the last consumer will
receive the deposit fee. Either way, the recycling fee deposited will serve as an incentive to
whoever surrenders the electronic product at its end-user life. The centralized institution or the
NGO can then proceed to submitting all the e-waste collected to the commercial recycling
institutions. At this point, the recycling companies have already been by the producers based on
how much products have reached their end-user life. The private recycling companies can either
refurbish the gadgets for reselling or completely dispose them safely. This should also be
supervised by the recycling institution whether the producers are paying the exact amount of
recycling wastes.
Linking the informal sector to the formal sector is another problem. With the existence of
electronic wastes in dumpsites, it will be hard for commercial recycling institutions as well as
producers to revive and monitor the electronic wastes scattered in these places. This is where the
mambuburaots come into place. They can serve the formal sector by taking the role of being
collectors of electronic wastes. What is needed here is the collaborative effort of the private
recycling institutions in incentivizing the informal collectors. They can either employ them and
provide training or pay them for their collections so as to reduce the dispersal of harmful
electronic wastes to humans. This fee for informal sectors should also be made official by the
centralizing institution or NGO to slowly transform the mambuburaots to formal collectors
working for private commercial institutions. The diagram for this process is illustrated below.
11

Figure 3.
Assuming that our proposed e-waste management system works and the deposit fees and
centralized institutions incentivize both the formal sector and the informal sector, it is still
possible that the growing amount of electronic products entering the country will exceed the
existing technology that is currently available. In this context, another arising issue relating to
technology might still serve as a hindrance to having an efficient e-waste management system.

B.

TECHNOLOGICAL
While firms turn a profit from the recovered products and use the resources in order to

improve the efficiency of their processes, the government can serve as the regulator separate
from the proposed centralized institution. It makes sure that the firms follow the rules pertaining
to certain technologies to be implemented as well.
Due to high investment costs, establishing recycling centers become expensive to put up.
In addition to this maintaining the centers are costly. According to the article The Cost of
12

Starting a Full Force Recycling Program, which walks you through the costs of setting up a
recycling center, an amount of twenty thousand to thirty thousand USD is the estimated cost
running the facility for the first month. This calculation does not even consider the costs of
putting up the said facility. Because of this the government can afford only small number of
recycling facilities.
Collection will be centralized. Lowest tier of collection will be done by centralized
institutions or NGOs to be brought to or taken by the recycling firm. Costs may still be lower
using this method. Transportation costs may remain to be miniscule as compared to the upkeep
of the facility.
These centers will be in charge of handling the worst of the toxic chemicals. Handling
dangerous chemicals is tricky in that it requires having equipment, processing facilities, storage
facilities, as well as knowledgeable manpower.
E-waste must be separated into elements that may be resold. They may be disassembled
into their usable components such as screens, batteries etc. or into their elements. Once the
acceptable level of purity is achieved, it may then be sold to make a profit.
Aside from selling components of e-waste, there are more to make use out the e-waste.
Electronic waste may be turned into asphalt binder additives which improve the performance of
asphalt (Hassan, Mohd, et al. n.p.).
Should there be residuals left after the recovery process, waste that cannot be recovered
must be separated by type, harmfulness, diffusion, etc. The following abbreviated table by
Kiddee et al. describes a chemicals ecological source of exposure as well as its route of exposure
(n.p.).
Table 2.
Chemical classification of e-waste Component of electrical Ecological
Route
of
components and sources and routes and
electronic source
of exposure
of exposure
equipment
exposure

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Persistent organic pollutants

Brominated
flame
retardants Fire
retardants
for Air,
dust, Ingestion,
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
electronic equipment
food, water, inhalation,
and soil
and
transplacent
al
Dioxins
Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and Released as combustion Air, dust, soil, Ingestion,
dibenzofurans
byproduct
food, water, inhalation,
and vapour
dermal
contact, and
transplacent
al
Perfluroalkyls

Fluoropolymers
electronics

in Water, food, Ingestion,

soil, dust, and dermal
air
contact,
inhalation,
and
transplacent
al

Elements
Lead

Printed circuit boards, Air,

dust,
cathode ray tubes, light water, and soil
bulbs,
televisions
(1520
kg
per
monitor), and batteries

Inhalation,
ingestion,
and dermal
contact

Chromium or hexavalent chromium

Anticorrosion coatings, Air,

dust, Inhalation
data tapes, and floppy water, and soil and
disks
ingestion

14

Cadmium

Switches,
springs,
connectors,
printed
circuit boards, batteries,
infrared
detectors,
semi-conductor chips,
ink
or
toner
photocopying machines,
cathode ray tubes, and
mobile phones

Air, dust, soil, Ingestion

water,
and and
food
inhalation
(especially
rice
and
vegetables)

Mercury

Thermostats, sensors,
monitors, cells, printed
circuit boards, and cold
cathode
fluorescent
lamps (12 g per
device)

Air, vapour,
water,
soil,
and
food
(bioaccumulat
ive in fish)

Lithium

Batteries

Air,
soil, Inhalation,
water,
and ingestion,
food (plants)
and dermal
contact

Barium

Cathode ray tubes, and Air,

water, Ingestion,
fluorescent lamps
soil, and food inhalation
and dermal
contact

Beryllium

Power supply boxes, Air, food, and Inhalation,

computers,
x-ray water
ingestion,
machines,
ceramic
and
components
of
transplacent
electronics
al

Inhalation,
ingestion,
and dermal
contact

This table differentiates compounds, elements as well as chemicals from each other by
attributes. Creating sound plans to manage electronic waste residuals must take into account the
nuances between each type of waste to avoid further emission of harmful substances into the
ecological systems. Separation of electronic wastes from other wastes enables easier
15

management and containment. The residuals must not come into contact with other residuals that
react with it. Reaction with other residuals may cause release of other harmful effusions, which
is opposite to the goal of rendering the remaining materials, inert or harmless.
Research and development towards better technology to recycle will be done by the
centralizing institution or the NGO while the government (a separate entity that authorizes the
whole process) is in charge of setting regulations to force recycling centers to adapt cleaning,
safer technologies. Putting the burden of research and development on producers may become
deterrent in entering or continuing recycling firms. To combat the disincentive for recycling
firms to enter the market, the government may subsidize the partial or full cost of research and
development assuming if they had enough budget allotted for e-waste management.
On the other side, producers must go towards producing more environmentally friendly
products (Kiddee et al. n.p.). Having products that contain less toxic materials will make
recovery less dangerous. Processing less harmful discarded electronics will mean a reduction in
the necessary safety precautions, thus lead to lower cost processing.
Assuming that there are the technology and facilities, the existence of a centralized
leadership that will enable effective and efficient utilization of resources coming from the
government is needed. They have to supervise the cohesion of the system through
implementation of laws and official standards on how to effectively manage e-wastes.

C.

INSTITUTIONAL
As mentioned previously, there exists no legislation specifically tackling e-waste in the

Philippines. Because of this, the efforts of private organizations are not fully realized. It is still
difficult for private organizations to act and implement rules regarding e-waste without a
nationwide policy. This suggests that with the creation of a tailor fit policy and the presence of a
strong enforcing arm, the likelihood of consumers and producers acting accordingly towards the
efficient management of e-waste is going to be high. This approach shows how crucial the role
of the government is in the fulfillment of the main objective (or of any issue in the country,
generally) as it serves as the playwright of this narrative.
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Since e-waste in the Philippines comes from domestic and foreign sources, the ideal
mechanism will propose policies corresponding both to the local and the international levels.

Local E-waste Management Policies

For the local level, we propose two complementary policies that are modeled after the
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment or WEEE Directive (Directive 2012/19/EU, Official
Journal of the European Union) and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances or ROHS Directive
of the European Union (Directive 2011/65/EU), as well as RA 9003 and RA 6969, respectively.
The first one is the Hazard-Free Substance in e-Production policy (HaFSeP) where producers
will only be allowed to manufacture, sell or distribute electronic and electrical equipment (EEE)
if they minimize hazardous substances contained in the products. Although the name implies that
production of EEE should be free of any hazardous substances, this would be difficult to attain
for some of these substances are essential to the functioning of the EEE. However, as mentioned
earlier, with proper allocation of funding for research by the producers, it might be possible to
find alternative substances which could be a way to attain a completely hazard-free substance
e-production. This would not only make it easier and safer to recycle e-waste, but it will also
lessen the hazardous residuals in the environment.
The second proposed policy is called the E-Return Mo policy where consumers will be
incentivized with deposit fees if they surrender or return, as the name implies, their EEE to the
collecting bodies once they have reached their end-user life. This incentive-based policy will not
only motivate the consumers to recycle old EEE through the recycling institutions, but it can also
promote e-waste awareness in the country. Additionally, this policy also encourages more
recycling than disposing on the side of the e-waste management institutions.
Given the most recent statistics of e-waste in the Philippines as seen on the table below
from DENR, it is alarming how much the amount of e-waste containing hazardous substances
increased (Saez, E-Waste Management in the Philippines). This shows that it is fitting to
implement these policies along with their integration to the already existing legislations (RAs
9003 and 6969) to tailor the most suitable e-waste management system for the country.

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Table 3. E-Waste Statistics (in metric tons)

Because of the complementary nature of the two policies, the effectivity of the policies
will heavily rely on a unified compliance from the consumers, producers and institutions, and
proper implementation by the government.

Foreign E-waste in the Philippines

The Philippines main source of foreign e-waste is South Korea shipping 215,462 used
televisions or computer monitors, 53,060 used computers or accessories, and about 200 used
refrigerators or air conditioning units in 2014 only. Japan, Singapore, Sweden, and Germany also
contributes to foreign e-waste, most of which are used photocopy machines (Kritz n.p.).
In 2013, Canadian import of waste sparked controversy as 50 container vans holding
plastic scraps that turned out to be dirty plastics and household garbage including adult diapers
from Canada were uncovered. The main problem was that even if the waste was misdeclared to
begin with, the Canadian companies were firm that they would not take back the waste. The
Philippines has been shouldering the cost of managing the waste ever since (Ranada n.p.). In
2015, during the ASEAN Summit, Canadas prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was not so clear and
was even noncommittal about the issue, but as of June 2016, the Philippine government plans to
ship the waste back to Canada while demanding for the importer to shoulder the costs. This
particular incident served as the impetus for organizations to lobby for the ratification of the
Basel Amendment (PH Govt to Ship Garbage Back to Canada n.p.).
Despite the safeguards of the Basel Convention such as securing of prior informed
consent before any transboundary movement of waste to happen, loopholes in the current system
18

have made it vulnerable to manipulation, corruption, and circumvention. Firstly, prior informed
consent is likely to be obtained through unscrupulous means. This is because of the vulnerability
of officials, who have the responsibility to give consent, to bribery as with the case of Canadian
waste where officers were allegedly bribed to accept the misdeclared waste. Secondly, securing
consent does not guarantee that the wastes will be handled properly to protect the citizens and the
environment of the receiving country. What happens is that the responsibility of the exporting
country only goes to the extent of making sure that there is consent, but does not extend to
making sure that the receiving country will manage the waste properly. Lastly, because the
convention limits the exportable wastes to those that will be recycled, countries only have to
reclassify their waste as meant for recycling, providing a window of opportunity for hazardous
waste exporters. These problems led to the Basel Ban Amendment in 1995, banning the transfer
of harmful wastes from rich to poor nations, regardless of whether the waste will be recycled or
not (Ranada n.p.).
Total waste trade ban has been adopted in many countries where the Basel Amendment
has already been ratified. For instance, Africa adopted the Bamako Convention which was
triggered by the Koko Beach incident in 1987. Eighteen thousand barrels of hazardous waste
were imported to Nigeria from Italian companies, Ecomar and Jelly Wax. Eventually, the barrels
were shipped back to Italy because of public outcry. Now, because of the total waste ban, so far
we have yet to hear any new case from the signatory countries of the convention (Lipman 2).
The Philippines has taken the path towards sustainable development through its
commitment to many global initiatives such as the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals and Sustainable Development Goals (Albert n.p.). It is therefore counterintuitive for the
Philippines to allow a mechanism that causes health and environmental damage to still persist.
When all of these damages have already been accrued and the Philippine government was not
able to prevent them, at worst, these damages would be irreversible and would even transcend
generations. This ultimately means failing the future Filipino generation. Thus, lessening the
likelihood of the Philippines achieving sustainable development. The ratification of the Basel
Amendment would not only strengthen the campaign of the Philippines towards sustainable
development, but it can also help the Philippines gain diplomatic capital. The Philippines will

19

have more incentive to abide by its commitment of the ratification in order to build good
reputation among its global partners.

V.

Conclusion
Data and analyses presented in this study suggest that e-waste is an inevitable problem in

the Philippines that needs immediate action. Taking into account the significant detriments on
health, economy, and the environment, this study provided an ideal mechanism towards an
economically efficient and environmentally sound e-waste management system using behavioral,
technological, and institutional approaches.
It is important to incentivize all sectors to get engaged with the process of managing
e-waste to secure the flow of recycling. All consumers, producers, centralizing institutions and
informal recyclers should follow the system of the e-waste management under the standards set
by the government. In light of this, a successful and working e-waste management can be
possible if each role is played properly.
The ideal model also recommends that electronic waste must be processed to regain the
most efficient level of resources that may still be used, as well as processing the remaining
residual waste. The waste must be rendered inert, made harmless or stored for future processing
once technology and techniques become available and sustainable for use. Research and
development must be funded by the producers dictated by the centralized institution or NGO in
order to find newer and more efficient ways to produce electronics.
The final piece that will complete the ideal model rests upon the government. Hence,
e-waste policies that are tailor fit to the Philippine context were suggested, namely the HaFSeP
policy and E-Return Mo policy on the local level, and the Ratification of the Basel Ban
Amendment on the international level. These e-waste specific legislations will serve as the
backbone of government and societal action towards an efficient and environmentally sound
e-waste management.
These are the proposed solutions to work towards the ideal. Immediate implementation
cannot be expected since overhaul of the system are held back due to issues such as corruption,
red tape bureaucracy and the lack of budget. This study only serves as a preliminary step towards

20

further expansion of the optimal solution to the e-waste problem. Further studies must be
conducted to pinpoint the most efficient levels of implementation of policies that will fit the
needs and the capabilities of the Philippines.

21

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