Community members and environmental advocates challenged claims that the proposed Smokey Mountain waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerator would benefit local residents, arguing that the project would leave the host community with the environmental and social burdens while delivering few direct benefits.
Project proponents claimed the facility would generate 75–100 MW of electricity. However, Anna Mikko Realo, Chief Science Research Specialist of the Department of Energy’s Biomass Energy Management Division, clarified that the electricity would be supplied to the Luzon grid, not directly to Smokey Mountain or neighboring communities.
Residents pointed out that while electricity would flow elsewhere, the host community would shoulder the project’s impacts—including air pollution, traffic, accidents, displacement, and loss of livelihoods—without any guarantee of affordable electricity, employment, or other direct benefits.
Project proponents also promised job creation and assured that waste segregation would continue. However, residents questioned whether these opportunities would actually reach the people whose livelihoods currently depend on waste recovery. “Gaano katotoo na makikinabang ang mga waste worker? Ako po ay junk shop owner, pero hindi po ako big-time, small-time owner; junk shop owner lang po at doon po namin kinukuha ‘yung source of income po namin, lalo na po ‘yung pampaaral sa mga anak ko.” (“How true is it that waste workers will benefit from this project? I am a small junk shop owner, and this is how we support our family and send our children to school.”)— Edna Biscoro, Smokey Mountain resident.
Edna Biscoro asked questions about the impact of the proposed incinerator on their current livelihoods. Photo credit: MAIA.
Community leader Anora Madrid likewise questioned whether local residents would truly benefit from jobs being promised. “You say the incinerator project will create jobs, but won’t these positions require professionals? What about urban poor residents like us who have limited access to education?”
In Metro Manila, the informal waste sector is the primary collector of recyclable plastics, paper, metals, glass, and cardboard before they reach disposal facilities, which will now be sources of fuel for the WTE incinerator. The poor but productive, self-reliant sectors such as itinerant waste buyers (“mangangalakal”), waste pickers, garbage truck “jumpers”, garbage crews recovering recyclables, and small junk shops who are already saving waste away from landfills will be at the losing end while Phileco-MIEC stand to gain”, said MAIA.
In a global meta-analysis of job creation potential of different waste management sectors published by GAIA, it was made clear that what’s good for the environment is also good for the economy. Zero waste strategies score highest on environmental benefits and create the most jobs of any waste management approach. Reuse creates over 200 times as many jobs as landfills and incinerators. Recycling creates around 70 times as many jobs as landfills and incinerators. Remanufacturing creates almost 30 times as many jobs as landfills and incinerators.
“A project cannot claim to be inclusive or pro-poor if it destroys the livelihoods that already sustain hundreds of families,” MAIA said.
Questions Raised Over Classifying WTE incineration as Renewable Energy
Participants also questioned the government’s classification of waste-to-energy incineration as renewable energy.
During the consultation, Chinito Casicas, Local Convenor of Reboot Philippines for NCR and Rizal, asked where WTE fits among recognized renewable energy sources such as biomass, geothermal, solar, hydro, ocean, and wind. DOE’s Anna Mikko Realo explained that the department considers waste as renewable because it is continuously generated through human activity, citing Section 30 of the Renewable Energy Act and a legal opinion issued by the department.
MAIA rejected this interpretation, arguing that the continuous generation of waste does not make burning waste renewable. Much of municipal waste consists of fossil fuel-based plastics, while recyclable and compostable materials should instead be recovered through recycling and composting. In addition, municipal wastes do naturally replenish without being depleted like sunlight and wind. It is a byproduct of human consumption and production. The fact that people continue to generate waste does not make the waste itself renewable.
Atty. Maria Aleta Tolentino, OIC of the NAPC Non-Government Organizations (NGO) Sectoral Council and the Regional Coordinator for the National Capital Region, also questioned whether an incinerator that depends on a continuous supply of waste would undermine the country’s waste reduction goals.
“Wouldn’t this project encourage us to produce more waste? Wouldn’t that contradict our recycling policy?”
MAIA warned that waste-to-energy facilities require guaranteed volumes of waste over decades of operation, creating incentives to maintain or increase waste generation instead of prioritizing waste reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and other Zero Waste solutions.
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About GAIA: GAIA is a worldwide alliance of more than 1,000 grassroots groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals in over 90 countries. We envision a just, zero-waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped. GAIA Asia-Pacific is the co-convenor of MAIA.
About MAIA: The Manila Anti-Incinerator Alliance (MAIA) is a coalition of community organizations and advocates opposing incineration and false solutions, and advancing zero waste, environmental justice, and the rights of urban poor communities. MAIA’s position is firm, unified, and grounded in community-led resistance. MAIA reiterates its demands:
Uphold the national ban on incineration as stated in the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and Clean Air Act.
Immediately stop violent evictions and ensure on-site, in-city housing in Smokey Mountain.
End intimidation, fencing, and harassment by private security and barangay personnel.
Sign the petition! Click this link for the community petition: https://c.org/NsrxPwFJmG
Read the full case report entitled “The Smokey Mountain Waste-to-Energy Project: Arrested development and environmental justice in urban Manila.”
Media contact: Marvee Sambajon, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific Communications Officer for Campaigns, marvee@no-burn.org
