The Waste and Resource Management (WaRM) Cluster of the AIT RRC.AP organised yet another In-country Stakeholder Consultation and Expert Review Workshop in collaboration with the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of the Local Government Unit, Iloilo City on September 8, 2023. 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.

Inputs and reviews were made to the two draft documents developed by the project: 1) Report on assessment of plastic leakage status in Iloilo City and 2) Technical guidance on preventing the leakage of plastic and plastic fragments from factories and informal recycling areas in Iloilo City. 

The workshop was attended by relevant city stakeholders from academia, government – technical officers of the CENRO, Barangay Heads, Barangay MRF’s representatives, informal waste workers representatives, junkshop owners and consolidators, private consulting firms, and civil society organisations from the city and regional experts. 

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. ​ ​