EDITORIAL – Sounds too good to be true indeed

A certain company claiming to be US-based and calling itself Global Energy Solutions is offering to set up, for free, a so-called thermal waste-to-energy converter facility that would turn garbage into power and even water.

GES, in effect, is proposing to hit not just two but three birds with one stone, that is, dispose of garbage efficiently, economically and safely, generate power to boost existing supply, and produce water on the side as well.

Victor Maambong, chairman of the provincial board committee on environmental conservation and natural resources, before whom GES representatives delivered a power point presentation, was naturally mesmerized by the proposal.

Thankfully, Maambong had the good sense to step back and not take everything hook, line and sinker. Better take a look at the whole forest first and not just focus on a single tree. This thing is too good to be true, Maambong rightly deduced.

And indeed it seems too good to be true. The proponent wants to build the facility for free and all it asks in return is for Cebu to heap its garbage on its lap. Give me your garbage, 1,200 tons minimum of it daily, and I will turn it into gold, GES seems to be saying.

Of course, there is a catch. GES wants to collect a processing fee of $15 dollars (that is roughly P800 to P900) for every ton of garbage it processes. That is not exactly cheap. But it is definitely not expensive either. In other words, okay lang siguro.

The real selling point of GES is that, with its thermal waste-to-energy converter facility taking up so little space, local governments now hard-pressed to comply with the looming February effectivity of the Solid Waste Management Law may find hope in the proposal.

That is because, as GES correctly pointed out, most local governments just do not have the space for sanitary landfills that, as the law requires, must replace open dumps. Here a company accepts your garbage for a token and produces power and water to boot.

Sounds too good to be true indeed. And that is why we, like Maambong, should all be uncomfortable. Let us all be uneasy about this. While we are not accusing GES of anything, there is always no harm in first trying to look for little devils in the fine print.