Prime Integrated Waste Solutions (PWS), a subsidiary of Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc., emphasized Friday the critical need for strong collaboration between the public and private sectors to industrialize the waste management business in the Philippines.
“With the right private sector participation, and working together with the different agencies and LGUs, we can make waste management a real industrial business,” said Cara Peralta, Prime Infra market sector lead for waste.
Peralta was a panelist at the Environment and Natural Resources Day 2025, organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Makati City. This year’s theme centered on Ending Global Plastic Pollution.
“What we really want to do is to introduce a new age in waste management in the country,” she said.
During the panel, Peralta expressed recognition and gratitude to DENR Secretary Ma. Toni Yulo-Loyzaga’s leadership and guidance for “giving us the appetite to invest in this industry no matter how risky and challenging it is.”
Among the strategic opportunities outlined by Peralta are business-to-business (B2B) partnerships to enable off-take agreements for the upcycled and recycled waste processed by PWS, as well as strengthened implementation of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, given the limited resources of local government units.
In her speech, Loyzaga underscored the Philippines’ plastic pollution problem, noting that out of the 61,000 metric tons of solid waste the country generates daily, 24 percent is plastic waste, and 33 percent of that waste ends up in landfills and dumpsites.
“We are one of the world’s reported highest contributors to plastic waste, but we know that there are solutions available. We need more infrastructure for segregation, recovery and recycling. We need more support, public funds and private sector’s resources and technical capacity to cover whole waste management services at the local government (LGU) level,” she said.
Loyzaga also acknowledged Prime Infra and other private partners present at the event and called for their “swift, bold, and impactful action” in combating the drivers of plastic pollution.
Prime Infra has established PWS’ two modern large-scale materials recovery facilities in Cebu and Pampanga, focused on maximizing resource recovery through segregation, recycling and sorting.
PWS’ initiatives addressing plastic pollution include using shredded plastics for the production of Refuse Derived Fuel as a substitute for coal in cement manufacturing; processing recyclables such as the collection and diversion of post-consumer plastic bottles; and the generation and sale of verified plastic credits.
Further to its sustainability commitment, PWS is capitalizing on waste value creation, with the objective of later converting processed waste into sustainable fuels.
“Our goal really is to make fuels that can be consumed by the private market such as shipping lines or airlines,” Peralta said.
