The Cebu provincial government and a Japanese environmental firm have begun a feasibility study for a proposed Green Transformation (GX) Park that could shift the province’s approach to waste management from disposal toward resource recovery.
The study, launched on Sept. 11 with Yokohama-based GUUN Co. Ltd., seeks to explore an integrated system where discarded materials can be sorted, processed, recycled, and converted into useful products or alternative fuels.
GUUN operates in waste treatment, recycling, environmental consulting and environmental-system integration. The company has also established a waste-plastic recycling operation in Cebu and has worked with local governments on waste-management and recycling systems.
Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro said the initiative would require more than government action, stressing the need for businesses, industries and communities to participate in addressing the province’s waste concerns.
‘We have to be people who walk the talk. To create the forest, we start by planting the seed,’ she said.
Baricuatro said sustained cooperation among the different sectors would be critical to turning the proposed project into a working system.
‘With everybody’s cooperation, we won’t fail. We cannot fail,’ Gov. Baricuatro added.
From disposal to recovery
The proposed GX Park is being studied as an eco-industrial facility where waste could become an input for recycling, manufacturing, and energy-related applications, creating a more circular approach to managing materials.
Yasuko Kurihara, deputy consul general of the Consulate General of Japan in Cebu, emphasized the need to develop longer-term solutions as waste volumes continue to grow.
‘We need to move beyond simply disposing of trash and find solution,’ Kurihara said.
The project also ties into broader Philippines-Japan cooperation on environmental sustainability and discussions under the Asian Circular Cities Declaration (ACCD), which encourages Asian cities and countries to exchange knowledge and strategies for advancing circular-economy practices.
For Cebu, however, officials said infrastructure and technology would have to be matched by changes in public behavior and stronger implementation.
Rodel Bontuyan of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office said households remain an important part of the waste-management equation, particularly in proper segregation and compliance with waste policies.
‘Public education is very crucial. If you have good education but the enforcement is weak, we cannot achieve in the long run what we desire to achieve,’ Bontuyan said. The feasibility study kickoff brought together provincial officials, local government representatives and private-sector groups to discuss how the proposed system could be implemented across different areas of Cebu.
Provincial Board members Stanley Caminero, Raymond Calderon and Kerrie Kean Shimura attended the meeting, along with mayors from various local government units, including Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival. Representatives from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Cebu Chamber of Harbors and Industry also joined the discussions.
Caminero said the study should focus on solutions that can work under actual local conditions, including improving compliance and discipline in waste management.
‘The feasibility study has to be realistic,’ he said.
The proposed GX Park is envisioned not simply as a waste facility but as a common framework that would allow government, business, and industry to coordinate waste reduction, recycling, and resource-recovery efforts rather than pursue separate initiatives.
The feasibility study is expected to determine the project’s viability and identify an approach suited to Cebu’s waste-management requirements, while exploring opportunities to turn waste into economic and environmental resources.