The Smokey Mountain Waste-to-Energy Project: Arrested development and environmental justice in urban Manila

REPORT

The Smokey Mountain
Waste-to-Energy Project

Arrested development and environmental justice in urban Manila

GAIA Asia Pacific
About the Report

About the Publication

  • This document shows the proposed ₱26-billion waste-to-energy incinerator in Tondo, Manila, threatens to deepen displacement, pollution, and injustice in a community long shaped by poverty, waste work, and grassroots resilience. It highlights the legal, environmental, financial, and human rights concerns surrounding the project, while centering community demands to uphold the national incineration ban, stop forced demolitions, and protect zero waste livelihoods and the right to on-site development of urban dwellings. International financial institutions, including ADB, World Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, have paved the way with one of the largest waste service companies in carrying out site preparations, including displacements and steering policy shifts directly at odds with the country’s legal bans on incineration. This study is part of the GAIA Asia Pacific’s Loss and Damage Report series.

“The Asian Development Bank must do some serious soul-searching on the true meaning of ‘development’ because bankrolling and providing technical assistance to false solutions like the Smokey Mountain waste-to-energy plant only serves large capitalists while destroying our communities.”

— Shey Levita, EcoWaste Coalition