The Philippines has taken a major step toward tackling plastic pollution and advancing circular economy through a systemic change and efforts to strengthen regulation.
Led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Philippines’ National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP Philippines) gathered around a hundred participants from government, business, civil society, academia, development partners and communities to refine and validate the draft National Plastic Action Roadmap.
The convergence to develop the road map comes at a crucial time as the country continues to confront the challenges of mismanaged plastic waste.
According to a 2021 World Bank study, the Philippines generates 2.7 million tons of plastic waste each year, with 20 percent leaking into the ocean. This underscores the urgency of whole-of-society solutions to address plastic pollution and support the country’s shift to a circular economy.
The public consultation forms part of NPAP Philippines’ broader co-creation process to polish and finalize the road map, which proposes key action points to drive systemic change.
The action points are indicative and will be further shaped with stakeholders as part of the consultative process of finalizing the road map.
The measures seek to strengthen regulation to include ambitious policies across the plastic lifecycle, and improve governance, monitoring and enforcement.
They also aim to improve border monitoring and customs coordination with trade partners and improve the economics of waste management system to unlock funding for new infrastructure.
The measures seek to support expansion of market for secondary materials and run national campaigns to encourage a shift in consumer behavior.
“We understand that any Roadmap may set ambitious goals, but they matter because they show what can be achieved and where to begin. The National Plastic Action Roadmap outlines concrete and actionable steps that move us closer to our shared vision of sustainability and circularity,” said DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones.
Floradema Eleazar, team leader of the Climate Action Program Team of the United Nations Development Program in the Philippines (UNDP Philippines) said his agency envisions the road map to be closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals on responsible consumption, climate action and life below water, among others. UNDP Philippines News
“The result will reflect our shared vision of how the Philippines can institute systemic change from a linear model of ‘take, make, waste’ to a circular model of the plastics value chain where materials are kept for longer, reducing waste and creating economic opportunities,” she said.
The insights and recommendations gathered from the public consultation will be integrated into the final version of the National Plastic Action Roadmap, which will serve as a guiding framework for coordinated national action toward a circular economy for plastics in the country.
NPAP Philippines will continue to support and engage stakeholders as it works to refine the road map, ensuring that its recommendations translate into practical, inclusive and meaningful actions on the ground.
NPAP Philippines is a locally driven, multi-stakeholder platform uniting leaders from government, business, development organizations, academe, civil society and vulnerable groups to tackle plastic pollution and accelerate the country’s transition to a circular economy. UNDP Philippines News
