Municipal Waste Recycling Program Philippines PRRCFI Fact Sheet

The Philippines ranks as the third largest contributor globally of ocean plastic pollution. Much of its solid waste ends up in open dumping sites, allowing leakage into waterways connected to the marine environment. Ineffective solid waste management (SWM) systems do not include segregation at source, contributing to the mismanagement of plastic waste. Up to 750,000 metric tons of the country’s plastic waste materials enter the oceans every year,¹ including into sensitive marine areas that house delicate coral reef ecosystems around the island of Negros.

USAID’s Municipal Waste Recycling Program stimulated market interest in “zero-waste” products and packaging in Negros coastal communities. The Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc. (PRRCFI), under the Sea Waste Education to Eradicate Plastic (SWEEP) project, created innovative educational, business, and policy approaches. PRRCFI produced playful, effective, science-based materials to share solutions that help reduce ocean plastic pollution. Eight municipal governments worked with PRRCFI to improve SWM regulations. Stakeholders devised market-based strategies to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic waste.