Project Proteus Publishes Policy Review Paper on Waste-to-Energy

Mecaelah Palaganas • September 14, 2023
Project PROTEUS successfully published its first policy review journal article titled “From Waste to Renewable Energy: A Policy Review on Waste-to-Energy in the Philippines” last August 28.

All authors are PROTEUS members, namely Samuel David S. Anonas (first author), Francis Darwin T. Eugenio, BenJeMar-Hope F. Flores, Paul Heherson M. Balite, Jan Goran T. Tomacruz, Lawrence A. Limjuco, and Joey D. Ocon (corresponding author).

This review article tediously explored past, present, and upcoming government policies regarding waste-to-energy (WtE). Examining the Philippine policy framework shows many policy gaps and concerns stemming from the ambiguity of defining waste as a renewable energy resource. As it stands, the current solid waste management framework heavily emphasizes waste reduction and proper collection and disposal, with little mention of WtE. In contrast, the renewable energy framework explicitly promotes WtE technologies. The authors also conducted live interviews with relevant government bodies to further understand the current policy framework. To address this conflict in policy goals, several policies are recommended that are grounded in clarifying the country’s stances on waste as a renewable energy resource and WtE’s role in the waste management hierarchy.

This review article is now available in the Energy Sustainability section of Sustainability (Impact Factor of 3.9 in 2022) under the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI).

Project PROTEUS: Policy R&D on Optimization, Techno-Economics and Sustainability of Waste-to-Energy is funded by the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) of the Department of Science and Technology.

Article by Engr. Darwin Eugenio.
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