BAN Toxics!

BAN Toxics was established to respond to urgent waste issues besetting the Philippines. The organization was founded by public interest lawyer Richard Gutierrez whose work with US-based Basel Action Network, a campaigning organization dedicated to ending toxic waste trade, compelled him to form a similar organization based in the global south which was at the receiving end of the trade in hazardous wastes. Our pioneering work is focused on the sound management of mercury through successful policy and community engagements. We worked extensively on awareness programs and policy proposals on the handling of mercury-containing fluorescent lighting, including compact fluorescent lights, mercury-laden dental amalgam, and on the updating of the government’s Chemical Control Order for mercury. We are one of the first NGOs to work closely with poverty-driven artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities in order to transform and uplift the sector. ASGM is the largest source of mercury emissions in the Philippines as well as globally. Our continuing programs have aimed to reduce and eliminate mercury use in ASGM mining processes and at the same time promote the empowerment of women and children, help improve labor conditions, and advocate for the formalization of the largely unrecognised ASGM sector. Over the years we have worked on issues related to toxic chemicals and waste and environmental justice. Together with allied environmental groups, we exposed the scandalous waste provisions in the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement. We raised the alarm on the rising volume of e-waste shipments to the Philippines which were being improperly dismantled and disposed in landfills. We have also worked to promote awareness about harmful chemicals and the sound management of chemicals at all levels, through policy engagement with government agencies and policy makers, projects on the ground with communities and the Toxics-Free Schools Program with students.