The proposed project promotes a ground-up model integrating IGCoS residents and businesses as active players in a circular model of plastic upcycling. PTC together with the Regional Director for Tourism in Davao, the mayor’s office, and Envirotech Waste Recycling, Inc. will set-up a comprehensive and transformational system to plug the gaps in plastic waste management. Plastic waste that is collected, segregated and processed locally will be upcycled  into souvenirs, furniture, and useful in-demand items to promote a profitable and sustainable value chain.  

If we bring together the different stakeholders in Samal Island to establish an integrated collection and upcycling value chain for plastic waste, then the local community can reduce plastic waste leakage into the environment; reduce the amount going into landfills; and benefit from innovative upcycled products as a source of income.

• Systems innovation: This is a multistakeholder solution that creates an inclusive systems involving Samal Island communities and businesses, local government authorities, the Department of Tourism, and upcyclers.
• Focused on the island’s strength: By upcycling plastic wastes to become useful items in the tourism industry, the solution will provide opportunities for communities to make a livelihood that will also advance the tourism in the island.
• Locally-owned: The solution is grounded in local realities and seeks to localizing the upcycling process and keep the value-add in the local economy. It seeks to provide livelihood opportunities to local individuals.

If we bring together the different stakeholders in Samal Island to establish an integrated collection and upcycling value chain for plastic waste, then the local community can reduce plastic waste leakage into the environment; reduce the amount going into landfills; and benefit from innovative upcycled products as a source of income.

• Awareness and engagement: Used plastics are seen as a resource by communities and businesses discouraging plastic litter and appreciating their role in maintaining a plastic free Samal Island. This will push stakeholders to appreciate the potential of upcycled plastic products and promote entrepreneurship and further product development.
• Efficient value chain: Plastic waste is processed efficiently whereby:
  • The integrity of segregation (and thus recyclability) is maintained;
  • IGCoS will house local pelletizers and machinery for the localization of basic processing opening up opportunities for informal waste collectors and other local stakeholders to be involved;
  • Transportation to Envirotech and the costs associated is predictable and viable to keep costs predictable;
  • Articulation between producers and the market will see that the upcycled plastic products produced are in line with the demands of people.
• Broader capture of plastic waste: To reduce plastic leakage, the initiative will expand the range of plastics recycled. Most types of plastic waste will be included in the circular model and these types will no longer be brought to the landfill.
• Transforming tourism in Samal Island: The tourism industry of IGCoS will benefit from the system with cleaner environments and useful products made from upcycled plastics.

Systems innovation: This is a multistakeholder solution that creates an inclusive systems involving Samal Island communities and businesses, local government authorities, the Department of Tourism, and upcyclers. Focused on the island’s strength: By upcycling plastic wastes to become useful items in the tourism industry, the solution will provide opportunities for communities to make a livelihood that will also advance the tourism in the island. Locally-owned: The solution is grounded in local realities and seeks to localizing the upcycling process and keep the value-add in the local economy. It seeks to provide livelihood opportunities to local individuals.

The project will seek to achieve the following targets and key metrics:

• Reduction of plastic waste found in the environment (ie. coastal areas) by 50%
• Reduction of volume of plastic waste being sent to the IGCoS landfill by 25%
• Participation of at least 10 resorts or tourism establishments in the plastic upcycling scheme
• The participation of members of the local women’s council and the opening of a souvenir shop run by the organization
• Establishment of a local collection, sorting and processing site on IGCoS
• At least 1 training session of local government solid waste management staff to sensitize them on upcycling, segregation best practices and improved safety and handling of waste.
• At least 1 market study to inform what products Envirotech should make in response to the demand of resorts and residents of IGCoS.

PTC’s Plastic Free Starts with Me will set up a locally-driven system of upcycling plastics in IGCoS. Within the first year of implementation, we hope to see: the amount of plastics litter found in the environment is reduced by 50% and the amount of plastic waste brought to the Samal Island landfill is reduced by 25%. Our partners in the local government and the tourism industry also hope to formalize a sustainable tourism plan.

For scale-up and replication, PTC and its partners will look to boost capacities in plastic waste processing and explore new and exciting products and materials that can be produced from upcycled plastics. For example, PTC is looking at upcycled plastic building materials to build disaster-resilient housing and boats for fisherfolk.

We also hope that the solution will serve as a model for transforming policy into practice whereby a circular economic model is achieved within the local economy, minimizing costs and maximizing local capacities and resources. IGCoS can serve as a model for other town and cities in the Philippines and beyond. PTC’s Plastic Free Starts with Me is eyeing sites across the country including in Metro Manila and Batangas to replicate this model.

With seed funding from UNDP’s EPPIC Challenge, PTC along with its partners, Envirotech and the Department of Tourism will put in place the infrastructure and systems needed to create a circular economic model for IGCoS. This will complemented by capacity building for waste collectors and members of the women council who will run the collection and processing sites. The funding from UNDP will be used to establish a local granulation site on Samal Island keeping value-added processes within the locality and increasing efficiency in transportation by barge across to Davao where Envirotech will complete the upcycling process.

The funds will also catalyze a stronger articulation between business to adopt the use of upcycled plastic product and with policymakers to finally establish a comprehensive sustainable tourism plan that curbs the use of plastics and tackles head-on the plastic pollution that threatens Samal Island’s status as a garden city.

For more informations about us :

Mr. Winchester Lemen (Envirotech)