Electronic waste management in the Philippines: Determining a sustainable policy framework

• Main Author: Uson, Adriana Alexis Co
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2012
• Subjects: Electronic waste—Philippines; Refuse and refuse disposal—Philippines; Environmental Studies; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6953
• Institution: De La Salle University

This thesis explores the growing and accumulating problem of electronic waste (E-waste) in the Philippines, and determines the most suitable policy framework for the country, amongst many popular approaches to E-waste management worldwide. In this study, the compelling problem of E-waste mismanagement in the Philippines is lucidly illustrated, showing likewise the country’s present piecemeal response to managing the growing concern. With the proper backdrop and a list of the most studied alternatives – i.e. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Advanced Recovery Fee (ARF), and Informal Waste Sector Management (IWSM) – this causal-predictive, exploratory case study has distilled the given methods by subjecting them through a series of filtering tests and criteria – i.e. the Rational Basis Test, the Policy Subsystem Framework, the Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, the Corporate Environmental Responsibility Framework, and the Legal Framework – simultaneously employing mainly qualitative research methods. Through analysis of specific case studies and condensation of the key ideas, the thesis was able compare the responsiveness of the three policy frameworks to the Philippine setting. The study was able to finally identify EPR and IWSM as dually synergistic policy frameworks that are most likely to be sustainable for the Philippines, and potentially capable of reversing the current system of managing Ewaste from being largely reliant on landfill disposal, to effective advocates of reducing, reusing, and recycling E-wastes, all directed at serving best the interest of all stakeholders, most especially the health of both the environment and the people.