Manila: The Philippines is faced with a mounting problem of electronic waste and it is only a matter of time before the effects of toxic materials dumped in the environment affect human and animal life.

“The country is faced with a mounting electronic waste problem at the present level of production, use and importation of electronic goods,” Representative Terry Ridon of the Kabataan (Youth) Partylist said.

In the Philippines, mounds of electronic waste such as discarded linear and compact fluorescent lamps and computer circuit boards (PCBs) are dumped in open pits, putting local water systems as well as deep wells in danger of contamination, which can cause health problems and birth defects.

“The toxic and hazardous chemicals in electronic waste can endanger the health of informal recyclers and the people around them as well as contaminate the environment with toxic pollutants,” Ridon, who is a lawyer, said.

Ridon identified the poisonous heavy metals as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and halogenated substances such as brominated flame-retardants and polyvinyl chloride.

In Sitio Gubat in Santa Maria, Bulacan, for example, Gulf News saw a location where electronic waste such as PCBs and gadgets such as television sets were secretly buried.

The electronic waste had been buried just several meters away from a source of drinking water by businessman who sold electronic items from Japan.

Ridon said he had recently submitted House Resolution 628, which calls for a congressional inquiry into to the illegal entry of electronic waste in the country.

Ridon said the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had been urging developing economies to prevent the dumping of electronic goods from developed countries that threaten human health and the environment.

The UNEP report stated that the global problem of increasing electronic waste or “e-waste” makes developing economies susceptible to dumping as the cost of treatment of these products before disposal to the environment is high, Ridon said.

While the Philippines is a major end user as well as producer of electronic goods, Ridon laments that it has no law or guidelines on the systematic and proper disposal of the electronic waste generated.

Groups such as the Eco-Waste Coalition have been calling for government attention from as early as 2010 on the problem of e-waste, but authorities are yet to act.

The waste and pollution watchdog likewise urged the agencies to look at the import of near-end-of-life electrical and electronic products, which are then sold in so-called surplus stores, that ultimately add to the growing volume of e-waste nationwide.

Ridon, for his part, called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Science and Technology to undertake a study on the extent of the problem posed by the e-waste.