The Waste and Resource Management (WaRM) Cluster of the AIT RRC.AP organised an yet another In-country Stakeholder Consultation and Expert Review Workshop in collaboration with the Department of Public Services (DPS), Manila City on September 12, 2023, in Manila City. 

The hybrid workshop was organised as part of the activities of the ongoing project which aimed to harness the experiences, perspectives, roles, and expertise of formal and informal recyclers to support the development and dissemination of technical guidelines to prevent or reduce plastic and resin pellet leakage from factories and the informal recycling sector in the ASEAN. The project was funded by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris (RKC-MPD) funded by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. The technical consultation workshop was organized to review and receive inputs from stakeholders, including experts, policy makers and managers, and informal recyclers, to the two draft documents developed by the project: 1) Report on assessment of plastic leakage status in Manila City and 2) Technical guidance on preventing City of Manila. 

The workshop was attended by key national and regional experts from academia, government technical officers of the DPS, Barangay Heads, Barangay MRF’s representatives, informal waste workers representatives, junkshop owners and consolidators, private consulting firms, and civil society organisations from the city. The development and implementation of guidelines and industry best practices for plastic and resin pellet leakage prevention is necessary to minimise micro- and macro-plastic losses to the environment and serve as a good reference for developing preventative and remedial measures to prevent, clean up, and dispose of pellets where spillage occurs. The Asian Institute of Technology, Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (AIT RRC.AP) collaborates with partners in six ASEAN cities, including Manila and Iloilo (Philippines), Vientiane (Lao PDR), Pattaya and Nonthaburi (Thailand), and Hanoi (Vietnam) to implement this project. ​ ​