The Philippines has launched a national project aimed at improving the management of electronic waste and promoting repair, reuse, and recycling as the growing consumption of electronic devices puts pressure on the country’s fragmented collection and recovery systems.
The “Sustainable Electronics Management in the Philippines” project was launched on Sept. 30 in Quezon City under the Global Electronics Management (GEM) Program, a Global Environment Facility-funded initiative covering 16 countries.
The Philippine project is led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), with the EcoWaste Coalition serving as executing organization.
The initiative will cover the electronics lifecycle from product design and manufacturing to use, repair, reuse, collection, recycling and resource recovery.
The project comes as the electronics industry remains a major part of the Philippine economy, accounting for $54.92 billion in manufacturing exports and supporting more than three million direct and indirect jobs.
At the same time, rising electronics consumption, rapid technological changes and shorter product lifecycles are generating increasing volumes of waste electrical and electronic equipment or WEEE.
According to project proponents, post-consumer electronics collection and recovery remain fragmented despite more than 5,750 registered industrial waste generators in the National Capital Region alone.
The gaps allow some hazardous electronic waste to enter informal recycling channels, where unsafe dismantling and processing can expose workers and communities to hazardous substances while valuable materials that could otherwise be recovered are lost.
The project will focus on three stages of the electronics value chain.
Upstream measures will include strengthening regulations and incentives for circular electronics, promoting product designs that use fewer hazardous substances, and encouraging cleaner and more resource-efficient manufacturing.
Midstream efforts will involve repair shops, small and medium enterprises and authorized service centers, with the aim of extending the useful life of electronic devices and increasing demand for repairable ICT equipment.
Downstream interventions will seek to improve take-back schemes and regional collection, recycling and recovery systems, including the handling of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury and the recovery of valuable and critical materials from discarded electronics.
“Managing electronic waste requires a systemic, cross-border perspective that connects responsible design with sustainable resource recovery. Through the Global Electronics Management Program, UNIDO is proud to support the Philippines in scaling up green technologies, fostering industrial innovation, and building inclusive recycling networks that turn toxic risks into economic opportunities,” said Dr. Carmela Centeno, chief of UNIDO’s Responsible Materials and Chemicals Management Unit.
DENR undersecretary for finance, information systems and climate change Analiza Rebuelta-Teh said the government intends to incorporate circular economy measures into its regulatory and development policies.
“The DENR is fully committed to bolstering regulatory oversight, supporting LGU compliance, and embedding circularity into our national development policies. This multi-stakeholder partnership under the GEM Program reinforces our climate mitigation and pollution prevention targets, ensuring that economic progress does not come at the expense of our ecosystems and public health,” she said.
Over its implementation period, the project is targeting the avoidance of 14,831 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
It also aims to safely recover, remove or dispose of 11.4 metric tons of POPs-containing chemicals, 4,781.2 metric tons of waste containing POPs and 0.4 metric tons of mercury. The project also targets the avoidance of 0.4 gTEQ of unintended POP emissions.
The initiative expects to reach 1,000 direct beneficiaries, with women accounting for at least half. It will also seek to bring informal waste workers into safer and more formal recycling systems.
“Addressing the country’s growing e-waste crisis requires a radical shift from destructive, linear disposal toward an inclusive circular economy that protects both human health and the environment,” said Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition.
“Through the GEM Philippines Project, we are committed to strengthening the entire value chain to ensure that informal waste workers are integrated safely into formal systems, repair and reuse mechanisms are mainstreamed, and toxic chemicals are safely isolated rather than burned or dumped in our communities.”
Representatives from the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Development Bank of the Philippines and Department of Trade and Industry also joined government, industry and civil society stakeholders in discussing implementation priorities following the launch.
The Philippine initiative forms part of the broader GEM Program, which supports circular electronics projects in 16 countries. The program focuses on resource efficiency, safer materials, repair and reuse, recycling and responsible recovery of materials from electronic products.
