Second of 4 parts
By Earl Paulo Diaz,
Moeko Saito-Jensen,
Voltaire Acosta and Erika Mary
Quezon City:
Feeding the city, closing the loop
Quezon City’s circular transition begins with what nourishes us. However, when a significant portion of the city’s waste stream is from food, we are reminded that hunger and waste are two sides of the same challenge.
The city’s response: treat food as a resource to protect, not dispose of.
Urban farms and learning sites now anchor a circular food system, turning scraps into compost, soil into produce, produce into meals that nourish and sustain communities.
Demonstration spaces, such as Sunnyville Farm, bring together farmers, vendors, schools and microentrepreneurs to recover value from what would otherwise be lost.
These spaces fuel both environmental gains and stronger food access, especially low-income households vulnerable to price shocks. The city also stands to commit to reducing food waste through a policy.
A proposed circular food system ordinance and strengthened green procurement measures signal the city’s shift from simply managing waste to actively preventing it―designing solutions upstream, where they matter most.
In support of the city-wide shift, a community grant is helping scale food rescue and distribution as well as waste recovery across selected barangays. This support strengthens the city’s focus on reconnecting households, market vendors and small businesses to local composting and urban agriculture systems. It allows more communities to take part in closing the loop.
Quezon City’s strategy is simple: if food sustains us, then circularity must sustain food. In this endeavor, the city is designing a future that is not only cleaner but more nourishing and dignified for its citizens. (To be continued)
UNDP Philippines
