By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Canada’s ENECO WTE Pacific, Inc. of Canada is implementing a waste treatment and environmental management facility in the Mactan Economic Zone (MEZ) and in the entire ecozones in the CALABARZON ecozone sites with estimated project cost of $80 million marking the start of the greening of the various ecozones in the country. Charito B. Plaza, director-general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), has led the groundbreaking of the TOPS (thermal oxidation process system) gasifier plant which ENECO will initially install in MEZ and later on in CALABARZON area with a combined project cost of $80 million. Early on, PEZA and ENECO signed a memorandum of understanding in support of PEZA's greening of ecozones program. Specifically, ENECO will be involved in providing its pioneering technology in solid/liquid waste management and waste-to-energy generation to benefit the ecozones and locator industries. ENECO's TOPS gasifier has been granted the first Technology Verification Certification in the country by the DOST. Adopting the EU standards on BAT system (BEST AVAILABLE TECHNIQUE) involving integrated pollution prevention and control system, this facility will be able to treat and eliminate solid and liquid wastes such as solvents, acids and other toxic/hazardous materials. Plaza said the embedded facility will lower the cost of the locators on their waste disposal and treatment fees and more importantly, enhance their compliance to environmental laws.