ILOILO — Recyclable waste collected across Iloilo Province could soon command better market prices as the provincial government establishes a P15-million centralized aggregation and trading hub in Passi City, designed to connect local governments, waste workers and recyclers under a province-wide waste recovery network.
The WOW (Weave Out Waste) Limpyo Iloilo Hub, now being constructed in Barangay Talongonan, Passi City, will consolidate recyclable materials from different areas of the province instead of leaving communities and waste workers to deal separately with buyers and recyclers.
By pooling larger volumes of recyclable materials, the facility is expected to strengthen the bargaining position of waste collectors and participating local government units while making the collection, recovery, recycling and trading of waste more efficient.
The facility is targeted for completion within 10 months and will serve as Iloilo’s province-wide aggregation and trading center for recyclable materials, particularly plastics.
The project forms part of the provincial government’s efforts to advance a circular economy, where materials that would otherwise become waste are recovered, reused or recycled and returned to productive use.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the facility was held Thursday, Oct. 1, led by Passi City’s Mayor Stephen Palmares; Provincial Board Member Amalia Debuque, representing Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr.; Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Region 6 officer-in-charge regional executive director Atty. Ramar Niel V. Pascua; Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office supervising environmental specialist Mitzi Peñaflorida; and Provincial Tourism Officer and Local Economic Development and Investment Promotion Center chief Aulynn Yue Sin.
Also supporting the project were United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative in the Philippines Christophe Bahuet, The Coca-Cola Foundation President Carlos Pagoaga, and delegates from the UNDP and the foundation.
The development partners also turned over Recyclable Collection Trikes to the Passi City government to support waste collection and recovery efforts.
Before the groundbreaking, the delegates visited the Passi City Eco Center, where they interacted with waste workers involved in the city’s solid waste management activities.
The UNDP and The Coca-Cola Foundation are development partners of the Iloilo provincial government in implementing programs aimed particularly at reducing plastic waste.
With funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, UNDP is implementing the PH Plastics Circularity Project in Iloilo, a three-year initiative running through October 2027.
The project is being piloted in Banate, Dumangas, Pototan and Passi City, with interventions aimed at encouraging long-term behavioral changes to reduce plastic waste at the household and community levels.
The planned Passi hub expands that effort by providing the physical infrastructure needed to bring recovered recyclable materials together, build sufficient volumes for trading and connect the province’s waste recovery system more directly with recycling markets.
Once operational, the facility is expected to provide a crucial link between household waste segregation and the commercial recycling chain — turning materials normally discarded as garbage into resources with economic value./PN