The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Philippine Healthcare and Mercury Wastes Management Project (HCW Project) celebrated International Zero Waste Month, highlighting the need to promote zero waste practices and principles in the healthcare sector and address challenges in implementing sustainable waste management solutions.
The event, dubbed “Zero Waste for Health: Advancing Sustainability in Healthcare Facilities,” was conducted simultaneously in three regions where the HCW Project is being implemented: Region 2, Region 8, and the National Capital Region, with a centralized online program.
It was attended by healthcare professionals and waste management staff from partner hospitals of the HCW Project, along with local government representatives from their surrounding barangays and cities.
The participating hospitals included Quezon Memorial Medical Center (QMMC) in Quezon City, Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC) in Tuguegarao City, and Eastern Visayas Medical Center (EVMC) in Tacloban City.
According to Jam Lorenzo, BAN Toxics Deputy Executive Director and Manager of the HCW Project, Zero Waste is a concept that needs to be promoted in waste management systems as traditional approaches, such as focusing too much on recycling, no longer adequately address the increasing volume and complexity of healthcare waste, as well as the global waste crisis.
“Healthcare waste management remains a rapidly growing problem in need of urgent action, such as incorporating Zero Waste principles, which include waste minimization and ensuring environmentally sound practices and technologies are in place in hospitals and healthcare facilities.”
The HCW Project aims to improve healthcare waste management in the country with a special focus on reducing the release and emissions of hazardous substances from healthcare waste. The five-year project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is being implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) as the national lead agency, with the environmental NGO BAN Toxics serving as the executing entity.
The celebration of Zero Waste Month every January began in 2012 in the Philippines, when the youth sector presented a Zero Waste Manifesto.
On May 5, 2014, Presidential Proclamation 760 was signed, officially designating January as Zero Waste Month.
The first international celebration of Zero Waste Month took place in 2023, led by the international environmental organizations such as Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Break Free From Plastic (BFFP).