September 10, 2007 (TheNewsToday.info) – The Philippine Bio Sciences Company, Inc. (PhilBIO), a company which is into bio-gas and wastewater treatment, is offering the city government a solution to its power needs by converting the city’s waste to energy.Iloilo City is one of the cities in the Visayas region included in the Memorandum of Agreement signed between the company and the Environmental Management Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources to develop Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects for public sector solid waste projects with the use of ReStore Biogas Cogeneration Facility (ReStore).
Samuel West Stewart, president and chief executive officer of PhilBIO, in a letter sent to Mayor Jerry Treñas, said for every 25 tons of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), there is a potential to generate gas in the ReStore system that would generate up to 750 kilowatts of power
Other areas in the Visayas covered by the MOA are Mandaue City in Cebu, Bacolod City, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Boracay Island, Tagbilaran City and Dumaguete City.
ReStore project will serve as model for viable plan for the proper closure of open dumps and controlled dumpsites as mandated by Republic Act 9003, restoration of existing waste disposal facilities through the application of PhilBIO’s proprietary biological treatment technologies, utilization of recovered methane gas to deliver profit from electric and thermal facilities and provision of capital investments and operating funds through Built Operate and Own or Built Operate and Transfer process.
The company also wants a share of CDM benefits. Cities that signed a MOA with the PhilBIO will receive advances on future CDM streams from the buyer of carbon credits.
CDM scheme is being supported by the United Nations Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol has designed a program to reduce emissions through carbon tax. The main purpose of the tax would be to raise the price of carbon-based fuels and generate a global fund to encourage energy efficiency and technological development.
The Kyoto Protocol calls for 38 industrialized nations to reduce their emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Stewart said PhilBIO is well equipped to work on cities with CDM project. Currently, they have 18 projects with DENR’s approval. The company’s core competency is wastewater treatment and the capture of biogas utilization into various thermal energy applications.
In 2004, PhilBIO along with Philippine National Oil Company have jointly implemented the country’s very first landfill gas to energy project in Payatas, Quezon.
PhilBIO’s proposal had been endorsed by Mayor Treñas to the City Environment and Natural Resources for further study and possible recommendation.
Asia Cleantech 
Nice work on the blog. I definitely know how hard it can be to start to gain a following! 🙂 The issues we are facing just seem to get worse and worse and seems like people care less and less. Anyway to 2010 being a greener year!
Greetings. I’m originally from Puerto Rico (PR). As some may know, PR is a tiny island (i.e., 100mi x 35mi) with nearly 4 million inhabitants. Given that PR is a United States territory, all monetary transactions are conducted in US dollars. This results high purchasing power, which leads to higher per capita waste production. Current waste generation estimates are somewhere around 5 million TONS per year.
Sadly, Waste-to-Energy (WTE) has NOT been incorporated into PR’s waste management scheme due to “fear of the unknown.” The results of this fear are limited landfilling capacity, and no viable plan to deal with the ever growing waste management dilemma.
Aside from being a technological/logistical issue, WTE in PR is a politically overblown/controversial topic which divides the masses.
My hope is that PR’s existing waste management dilemma will serve as a model for other island nations to study and learn from.
Bottom line, WTE must be part of every island’s waste management scheme.
Is there any progress on the PhilBio-Iloilo project? Please advise: sasotocinal@yahoo.com
I have been trying to open the website of PhilBio but to no avail. Anyone know if the company is still operational or their website has changed?