A CONSUMERS’ group has lauded city hall for stamping its foot against the widespread use of refilled single-use butane canisters which is a serious fire hazard.
The executive order of Mayor Oscar Moreno creating a task force to enforce laws that prohibit the refilling, sale and use of single-use butane canisters with liquefied petroleum gas makes communities, especially those with high population density safer, according to the consumer advocacy group Pinoy Akson for Governance and the Environment (Pinoy Aksyon).
The group said the hazard caused by the refilling of single-use butane canisters with LPG should be nipped in the bud.
Moreno issued Executive Order 131-2019 this July 24 to create the task force, co-chaired by Councilor Romeo Calizo, in response to a report from the Bureau of Fire Protection that a recent fire at the Canitoan resettlement site that claimed one life was caused by the illegal use of refilled butane canister.
In a study at the city’s two biggest relocation sites in Canitoan and Pagatpat, Pinoy Aksyon found that illegally refilled butane canisters and firewood are the leading home cooking fuel.
Both fuels, said the group, pose serious fire hazards. Use of firewood has also been found to be a leading home pollutant that results in a host of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.
According to Stan Salcedo, program director of Pinoy Aksyon, clean, affordable and safer home cooking fuels should be made available in relocation sites, high population density communities.
Going after illegally refilled butane is the righ step to make our communities safe. “We will support the efforts of the local government of Cagayan de Oro,” he said.
The Department of Energy and the Department of Interior and Local Government have issued memoranda against the use of illegally refilled butane canisters. The Fire Code also prohibits its use.
Butane, along with propane, natural gas by-products compose LPG. Butane packaged in canisters are prescribed for outdoor use only. And the canisters for single use only. Refilling these canisters with LPG is extremely dangerous ass it is not designed to withstand the higher pressure of LPG.
Illegal refilling of these butane canisters has become popular because it is cheap, usually at P30 per refilled canister with 200 – 300 grams of LPG. This however is a lotmore expensive than LPG, which is now sold at around P50 per kilo.
“Butane refilled with LPG is extremely dangerous, very expensive and illegal,” said Pinoy Aksyon in a statement. (PR)
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