Philippines and Indonesia – Urban Revitalization Through Mitigating Toxic Wastes

This project, funded by the , Asian Development Bank and the Global Environment Fund is supporting project activities  in two sites:
PHILIPPINES: Ramcar site, Maycauayan, near Manila.
INDONESIA: Pesarean Village, Tegal

This project focused on capacity building for hazardous waste management and urban revitalization in the two target countries – Indonesia and the Philippines – for a variety of government and community stakeholders. The capacity building activities focused on strengthening hazardous waste identification and management practices, highlighting policy and enforcement gaps, identifying public health and household risks, and researching the potential for alternative livelihoods, remediation and urban redevelopment for each country. To demonstrate the potential of redevelopment and inclusive growth in polluted areas, the project piloted work in one community of each target country. Pilot sites were identified as urban areas with formal and informal industrial zones wherein the improper handling and disposal of toxic byproducts or waste is causing hazardous contamination. Pure Earth collaborated with local communities, governments, and relevant industries to illustrate how the pilot sites could better support inclusive growth.

If contaminated sites go unaddressed, the population is at risk, the environment is at risk, and the future productivity of a country is at risk. The good news is that it is possible to respond to pollution.  One response – the use of a brownfield redevelopment model to identify potentially valuable sites where private investors could be persuaded to undertake remediation in order to develop a site into a more valuable property and earn back the initial cleanup and investment costs in a reasonable amount of time.

This project developed instruction manuals to support local governments in enacting brownfield redevelopment programs to address contaminated sites. While the team recognizes that brownfield redevelopment is not always an option, they worked to document the steps required in finding appropriate sites, understanding remediation requirements, and developing high potential development opportunities to attract investors. These tools should be added to the government response toolkit in responding to environmental and health concerns in their respective countries.

Read the  full final report , or individual chapters:

• chapter_1:_Summary 
• chapter_2:_Overview
• chapter_3: Philippines
• chapter_4:   Indonesia
• chapter_5:_Pollution
• chapter_6:_Financing
• Water Table Depth Investigation
• Training Flipchart Household Waste
• Smelter Benchmarking Form
• Primer 1. Site Assessment
• Primer 2. Redevelopment
• Primer 3.Hazmat Quick Response and Safety Protocols
• House Cleaning Protocols
• Health Education Bahasa Indonesia
• Health Checklist Tagalog
• Estimating Remediation Costs
• Contamination Depth Investigation
• Best Practice Lead Smelting Bahasa Indonesia