MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has taken a major step toward tackling plastic pollution and advancing circular economy with the successful conduct of a public consultation to validate and refine the draft National Plastic Action Roadmap. 

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 proposed Roadmap.

The convergence to develop the Roadmap 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% 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 Roadmap which proposes the following eight key action points to drive systemic change. These action points are indicative and will be further shaped with stakeholders as part of the consultative process of finalizing the Roadmap:[GP1] [KC2] 

1. Strengthen Regulation to Include Ambitious Policies Across the Plastic Lifecycle;

2. Improve Governance, Monitoring, and Enforcement;

3. Improve Border Monitoring and Customs Coordination with Trade Partners;

4. Improve Economics of Waste Management System to Unlock New Funding for new infrastructure;

5. Provide Capacity Building and Ensure Safeguards for Waste Workers;

6. Build coalitions to promote Reuse and Other Upstream Measures;

7. Support Expansion of Market for Secondary Materials; and

8. Run National Campaigns to Encourage Consumer Behavior Shift.

“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 Undersecretary Jonas Leones of the DENR.

“We envision the Roadmap to be closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals on responsible consumption, climate action, and life below water, among others. 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,” said Floradema Eleazar, Team Leader of the Climate Action Programme Team of the United Nations Development Programme in the Philippines (UNDP Philippines).

“This broad and inclusive participation is what makes the NPAP such a unique and powerful platform for collective action. The Philippines has long demonstrated leadership in confronting plastic pollution from local innovation in waste management to the active engagement of communities and enterprises, [the] country continues to show that progress is possible through collaboration and creativity,” emphasized Liviana Zorzi, Specialist for the National Plastic Action Partnership of the World Economic Forum.

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 Roadmap, 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. Led by the DENR, it is supported by the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership and partners like the UK Government, the Government of Canada, and the Coca-Cola Foundation. UNDP serves as NPAP’s technical secretariat in the Philippines. [E]