In the Philippines’ ‘Plastic City’, residents complain of ‘suffocating’ burning smell from recycling plants

Valenzuela City on the outskirts of Manila is full of tiny houses sandwiched next to large plastic recycling factories, belching out fumes

The city is at the forefront of the waste crisis being felt by some Southeast Asian communities, where foreign nations like Australia and Canada send recyclables and rubbish for processing

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Environmental activists wear a mock container filled with garbage to symbolise the 50 containers of waste that were shipped from Canada to the Philippines two years ago. Photo: AP

Published: 10:37am, 8 Jul 2019Updated: 9:23pm, 8 Jul 2019

As noon approaches in Valenzuela City and residents prepare to have lunch, a pungent smell of melted plastic swirls through the air, killing everyone’s appetite.

“It gets suffocating in the evening. We have to close our windows despite the heat and bury our noses under our blankets when we sleep,” said Rosalie Esplana, 40.

The area on the outskirts of the Philippine capital of Manila, has been dubbed Plastic City. Its ramshackle streets are home to tiny houses sandwiched next to large factories, belching out fumes. Residents have been plagued by foul odours, which they claim come from a neighbouring recycling plant, STC Enterprises. Locals allege emissions from the plant have caused several residents to develop a lingering cough – a claim the plant owners deny.

Garbage is dropped from a grappler to be fed into a combustion chamber and incinerated at a garbage facility. Photo: Reuters

Valenzuela City is a microcosm of some of the problems facing communities in Southeast Asia, which have become the dumping grounds for the world’s plastic waste.