To increase and improve the city’s waste management capacities, a new mobile materials recovery facility (MRF) with biogas digester was turned over to the Pasig local government by the Embassy of Japan, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Wednesday, April 19.
The turnover ceremony was graced by Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, Vice Mayor Robert “Dodot” Jaworski Jr., Congressman Roman Romulo, Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa, UNDP Philippines Resident Representative Dr. Selva Ramachandran, and DENR Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh.
The event was held at the Sta. Rosa Covered Court in Barangay Sta. Rosa, Pasig City, attended by residents of the barangay and other nearby areas.
(UNDP Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
With the brand new equipment, the city’s Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO) and other affiliate departments would be able to process waste more efficiently, complementing the various MRFs around the city that regularly collect and process the garbage generated daily by residents.
The mobile MRF, wherein bioprocessing machines are housed in a single truck, has the capacity to roam around the city, and remotely shred and compost biodegradable waste, as well as process pulverized glass or plastics.
Aside from being able to properly segregate biodegradable trash, it can also aid in recycling the non-biodegradable materials that can be transformed into other products for public use.
The biogas digester helps in further breaking down or decomposing biodegradable waste or organic waste matter.
(UNDP Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
The equipment was handed over to the Pasig local government as part of the “Accelerating Nationally Determined Contributions through Circular Economy in Cities” program or the ACE initiative of the Japanese government, the UNDP and the DENR.
The ACE initiative seeks to help transition and transform societies into a circular economy, pertaining to a system of reusing and recycling products instead of completely eliminating or extracting resources upon consumption.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, “in such an economy, all forms of waste, such as clothes, scrap metal and obsolete electronics, are returned to the economy or used more efficiently.”
In this way, the circular economy would be able to provide benefits to the economy, job creation and sector development, and the environment through using natural resources more wisely, as per UNCTAD.
(UNDP Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)
“When we talk about moving towards a circular economy, one of the most important things is for all stakeholders to come and work together, contributing our expertise towards projects such as these,” Mayor Sotto said.
“This will help us, not only to clean up waste or to reduce the waste that we are throwing in the landfills but, the idea of moving towards the circular economy. It is a powerful idea and something we have been working very hard towards,” he added.
Vice Mayor Jaworski noted that the mobile MRF would help the city in its implementation of their new “garbage collection by administration” system.
As stated in a news release from the Embassy of Japan, Ambassador Koshikawa said he is confident that the ACE project will “enable Pasig City to reduce the amount of its waste that goes to the seas and transform its residents’ social behavior towards establishing a circular economy.”
“He likewise conveyed his hope for Pasig City to become a success model that would cascade to other Philippine cities, in line with the common goal of achieving zero marine plastic waste by 2050,” it added.
The cities of Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, Pasay, and Cotabato also have active projects under the ACE program to promote the circular economy.