Around one-hundred representatives from the academe, government, and industry sectors attended the two-day lecture-workshop on Practical and Cost Effective Solutions to Laboratory Chemical Wastes, sponsored by the Integrated Chemists of the Philippines (ICP) on 18-19 October at the Manila Elks Lodge in Makati City. A variety of resource speakers specializing in chemical waste management shared their knowledge to the participants. Dr. Fabian Dayrit (President, ICP) welcomed the participants. Dr. Glenn Alea (VP-Internals, ICP) served as the moderator for the event.
Engineer Gerry Sañez, head of the Hazardous Waste Bureau of the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, kickstarted the series of seminars on the first day. he discussed the Revised Procedures and Standards for the Management of Hazardous Wastes and how this affects laboratory waste management. Meanwhile, Dr. Veronica Migo, head of the Central Analytical Services Laboratory at BIOTECH in UP Los Baños discussed ways on classifying chemical wastes. The next three seminars on Management of Chemical Wastes and discussion of best practices were devoted for each sector: Dr. Allan Yago (pollution officer, Institute of Chemistry, UP Diliman) for the academe teaching laboratory, Ms. Edna Mijares (CEO and President, Jefcor Laboratories) for the research and analytical laboratory, and Ms. Gretchen Fontejon-Enarle (President of SPIK and PCO of Pacific Paint Boysen) for the industrial laboratory.
On the second day, Dr. Louernie de Sales, an industry expert, enthusiastically discussed the storage, transport, and disposal of wastes from a treater’s perspective. Afterwards, the participants were grouped together to collaborate on planning their own approaches on chemical waste management for their respective institutions, moderated by Ms. Mutya Samonte (Public Information Officer, ICP). Each group was then allotted ample time to present their output to everyone.
Ms. Mutya Samonte moderating the collaboration portion of the workshop
The two-day lecture-workshop ended with the participants properly armed with the know-how on dealing with their chemical wastes. ICP VP-Externals Ms. Edna Mijares gave the closing remarks, thanking the attendees for their participation and inviting them for future ICP events.