MANILA — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is banking on upcycling as one of the means in addressing the country's solid waste problem, Secretary Toni Yulo Loyzaga said Wednesday.

• From waste to furniture: Philippines upcycles its way out of its plastic pollution crisis

In a Palace press briefing, Loyzaga said how much plastics could be reprocessed and repurposed were among the issues they need to prioritize since 79 percent of its material value is lost when just thrown away.

The DENR chief said at present, the Philippines generates about 61,000 metric tons (MT) of solid waste daily, of which 24 percent is plastic waste. The material value of plastic waste, however, could reach about US $790 to 890 million per year.

"In order for us to generate that economic value, we do need to make some changes in terms of the way we collect, recover and repurpose itong mga plastic wastes na ito," Loyzaga said.

"Repurpose is one of those words na kailangan po nating isali dito po sa dialogue on solid waste management. Kasi po, many of our plastic wastes can actually be transformed for economic value," she said.

Upcycling processes will be an important part of the repurposing plastic wastes, said the environment chief.

Upcycling, simply put, is the process of transforming discarded trash into a product with a higher value compared to its original form.

In the case of plastics, a few recycling businesses in the country have done this through plastic extrusion and heat compression, where tons of clean plastic waste are melted or molded through heat for another product. A company also puts the spotlight on this through ecobricking.

"[This] really finds new value for itong mga waste na ito. So they can be actually manufactured into building materials, for example, into furniture, into other types of products na can suit our daily needs," said Loyzaga.

"Itong upcycling processes are important, and not just the physical processing, sana po, of this particular plastic waste but you also know that we can now, of course, repurpose, upcycle PEP bottles into other types of PEP bottles na will be more easily biodegradable once they go through a certain process," she added.

"That’s why I used repurpose, hindi lang po recycling pero upcycling at puwede ring i-downcycle."

But advocates have raised concerns on upcycling, as this could potentially endanger workers directly in the process.

They warned that melting plastics could discharge thousands of unknown chemicals that people directly involved in manufacturing could get exposed to.

Scientists earlier noted around 12,000 chemicals present in some food-contact plastics, like packaging and containers, many of which have yet to be identified or tested for their impacts on human health.

Sought for comment on how DENR regulates emissions or potential health hazards of these plastic melting processes, Loyzaga said they would "enhance continuous emissions monitoring system" in different manufacturing firms.

The DENR, she said, is also "work very hard" in monitoring small-scale firms engaged in plastic upcycling firms.

She noted that these are companies that could afford any air quality monitoring system. The DENR, she added, could not also afford to install such to every facility.

"This is one of the considerations talaga po ng DENR... Sa ngayon po, we actually monitor what is being emitted by certain types of operation including the power plants, of course, including cement manufacturing facilities," she said.

"But we are striving to actually enhance our air quality monitoring systems. Hopefully, sa budget year na ito, we will be able to actually multiply our monitoring systems."

"Just so you know, itong continuous emission monitoring system ay live po ang feed sa [Environmental Management Bureau]... and automatic po ang analysis ng mga emissions nito," she said.

Notices of evaluation, she said, are "automatically released" when a standard is violated.

"Iyon ang capacity na sana we can get support for in greater amount this year," she said.

The World Bank in 2021 said the Philippines could unlock $1.1 billion or P53.4 billion annually through recycling, since the country only recycles around 28 percent of key plastic resins.

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Video from PTV