Philippine clean air Act: One year on

Environmental organisations, civil-society groups, faith-based institutions, academicians and community-based organizations are calling on the government for effective and sustainable environmental protection during the anniversary of the passage of the Clean Air Act into law on June 23.

The Act bans incinerators for waste disposal, making the Philippines the first nation in the world to ban incinerators outright. Among their calls is to drop the legalization of garbage incineration in the guise of waste-to-energy plants proposed by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and instead pass long-term, comprehensive waste management policies and safer practices that would reduce waste.

One solution is the zero-waste approach, where barangays have managed to reduce and eliminate waste off our streets and even saved millions of pesos while creating jobs. It is a circular system that minimises unnecessary extraction and consumption, reduces waste, and ensures that products and materials are reused or recycled back into nature or into the market.