Prime Integrated Waste Solutions (PWS), a subsidiary of Prime Infra, underscored the crucial need for strong collaboration between the public and private sectors in industrializing the waste 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 Prime Infra Market Sector Lead for Waste Cara Peralta.
Peralta was one of the panelists 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 offtake agreements for the upcycled and recycled waste processed by PWS, as well as strengthened implementation of R.A. 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 wherein out of the 61,000 metric tons of solid waste the country generates daily, 24% of which are plastic waste and 33% of that waste end 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 which involve segregation, recycling and sorting.
PWS’ initiatives addressing plastic pollution involve using shredded plastics for the production of Refuse Derived Fuel as substitute to coal for 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 as its objective is to later convert 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,” said Peralta.
