Toxic chemicals and hazardous waste management in the Philippines

The problems posed by hazardous wastes are beginning to be a priority concern of the new Philippine government, possibly due to the increasing number of transnational companies like the semiconductor industry, as well as local firms, which are generating wastes considered hazardous to health and the environment. The Philippines, like any Third World country is not properly equipped in terms of equipment and technical expertise to deal with these wastes, although steps are being done to define the regulatory and enforcement responsibilities of various government agencies. The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), a policy making body of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is seeing that hazardous waste management is made an integral part of the industrial planning process. In the case of new industrial projects, environmental impact assessments are used to balance economic growth with ecological protection. Other activities of the EMB are geared towards providing baseline information that would eventually lead into the development of standards for hazardous waste management, environmental monitoring and the regulation of hazardous waste disposal.