AMORE, Bantay Baterya and PRI team up for environmental management progam

The Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), ABS-CBN Foundation's Bantay Baterya and the Philippine Recyclers, Inc. (PRI) inked a Memorandum of Understanding for an environmental management program to ensure that the batteries used by AMORE beneficiary communities are properly disposed and treated to protect the communities from the detrimental consequences of incorrectly junked batteries to their environment, health and livelihood, and to enhance the environmental protection and preservation efforts of all parties

AMORE is a rural electrification project of USAID being implemented by global NGO Winrock International in at least 160 remote communities in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Western and Central Mindanao in partnership with the Department of Energy, ARMM, and Mirant Philippines.

AMORE utilizes renewable energy such as solar and micro-hydro to light up these communities. For its solar communities, each of the 30 beneficiary households is given individual household battery systems that are charged through solar panels.

As a result of the AMORE Project, at least 5,460 lead acid batteries with a life span of two-years will be introduced in the rural areas for the next two years. As such, these lead acid batteries need to be collected and recycled at the end of their operating lives in the most environment- friendly way possible.

PRI has the capability and technical expertise in handling and recycling used-up lead acid batteries (ULABS) and it has a nationwide network that can facilitate the transport of the ULABS from the site to its Bulacan recycling facility.

ABS-CBN Foundation, on the other hand, through its Bantay Kalikasan, the environmental media program of the Foundation, created the Bantay Baterya Project, an advocacy and media campaign to inform the public about the dangers of improper lead-acid battery disposal.

ABS-CBN Foundation has an existing Memorandum of Agreement with the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and PRI, for the promotion and implementation of the Bantay Baterya Project, thereby cleaning up the environment of pollution-causing junk lead acid batteries.

Under the MOU, Winrock-AMORE will donate the ULABS from its beneficiary communities to the ABS-CBN Foundation, facilitate the transport of batteries from the communities to PRI's identified warehouses at its own expense, and will be responsible in informing the ABS-CBN Foundation of the existence of sufficient number of batteries available for donation.

The ABS-CBN Foundation, on the other hand, shall allow Winrock-AMORE to use the Foundation's Special Transport Permit for Hazardous Materials issued by the DENR-EMB in the collection and transport of the donated batteries from the beneficiary-communities to the identified depots and ensure that the donated batteries are regularly transported by PRI from their depots to PRI's Marilao Plant, whenever the inventory of donated batteries reaches 18 tons or enough to fill a 20-foot container or whichever comes first.

PRI shall provide Winrock-AMORE with a list of their identified collection centers and warehouses for storage of donated ULABS, retrieve the recycled ULABS from the designated collection sites and provide cost-effective transport to the PRI recycling plant in Marilao, Bulacan, ensure that all aspects of the Bantay Baterya Project comply with the environmental laws.