MANILA and Pasig are set to receive support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under a proposed $100- million project to improve solid waste management and strengthen waste infrastructure in the two cities.
The proposed Advancing Circular Urban Pathways (Acup) Project will support investments in waste segregation, collection and sorting infrastructure, as well as recycling and resource recovery systems, according to a new document published in the bank’s website.
The project also seeks to establish digital systems for waste traceability and improve the recovery of value from waste, while addressing financing and capacity gaps that have constrained the expansion of effective waste-management solutions.
‘The proposed project will prioritize high-risk riverbank communities, ring-fence local waste infrastructure investments through service and performance-based financing, de-risk private sector’s exposure to uncertain feedstock risk, and catalyze future circular economy investments,’ the multilateral lender noted.
According to ADB, Manila and Pasig were selected because of their strategic locations along the Pasig River, high waste-generation volumes, infrastructure readiness and potential to demonstrate solutions that could be replicated elsewhere.
Together, the bank said the two cities have about 2.6 million residents and generate around 2,400 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) daily, equivalent to about one-quarter of the National Capital Region’s total.
The project also comes amid persistent waste-management challenges in the country, which the ADB attributed to rapid population growth, urbanization, changing consumption patterns and capacity constraints among local government units (LGUs).
In the NCR, the ADB said around 40 percent of annual municipal solid waste remains uncollected, often ending up in waterways and drainage systems. Only 26 percent of LGUs have materials recovery facilities (MRFs), while about 40 percent of existing MRFs are functioning properly.
The ADB said poor waste management also worsens flood risks by clogging drainage systems and water pumps, with vulnerable riverbank communities particularly exposed.
Against this backdrop, the ADB said the Acup project will focus on improving waste services and infrastructure while strengthening public awareness and local capacity for better waste management.
‘ADB’s investment in city-level segregation, collection, and sorting infrastructure will close the viability gap that currently limits private sector participation, which is concentrated mainly in end-of-life recycling facilities,’ it added.
The project remains proposed, with further assessment to be undertaken during project preparation.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is the executing agency, the ADB said.