MWRP Philippines: Waste to Wages: Changing the Narrative

Solid waste management is a challenge in the Philippines, a rapidly growing developing country in Southeast Asia comprised of over 7,000 islands. With increasing amounts of waste and not enough sanitary landfills, as much as 750,000 metric tons of discarded plastic finds its way into the ocean annually.1 This environmental crisis also represents a missed opportunity for poor neighborhoods in coastal cities where the value of that waste could be captured, generating much-needed income.

Solid waste management is a challenge in the Philippines, a rapidly growing developing country in Southeast Asia comprised of over 7,000 islands. With increasing amounts of waste and not enough sanitary landfills, as much as 750,000 metric tons of discarded plastic finds its way into the ocean annually.1 This environmental crisis also represents a missed opportunity for poor neighborhoods in coastal cities where the value of that waste could be captured, generating much-needed income.

To help address this problem, the Waste to Wages project, a partnership between World Vision Philippines and the Plastic Bank, improves livelihood opportunities for informal waste collectors and promotes increased household compliance on waste segregation and recycling. The project implements community-based solutions to increase the volume of plastics recycled in the low-income neighborhood of Barangay2 Baseco (population 60,000) in Metro Manila, which reduces leakage of plastic waste into the adjacent river and the ocean.