Integrated Circular Economy Facility (ICEF)

Iligan City is seeking technology providers, investors and circular economy experts to help develop an integrated waste management and resource recovery system that addresses growing waste volumes while creating environmental and economic value.

The city generates more than 150 tonnes of waste per day and has implemented progressive waste segregation, recycling and resource recovery initiatives. However, the absence of key waste treatment and disposal infrastructure limits its ability to maximise resource efficiency and achieve long-term sustainability.

The proposed Integrated Circular Economy and Resource Recovery Facility (ICEF) aims to modernise the city's waste management system through advanced collection, sorting, treatment and resource recovery solutions. The city is particularly interested in technologies and business models that can reduce landfill dependency, increase material recovery rates, generate value from organic and residual waste streams and support data-driven waste management.

Potential solution areas include smart waste collection systems, material recovery facilities, recycling technologies, organic waste treatment, refuse-derived fuel production, circular business models and digital platforms for monitoring and managing waste flows.

The solution has two components:

 Component A modernises the core SWM ecosystem: a DENR-compliant Category IV engineered sanitary landfill with HDPE liners, leachate treatment and methane capture; a modernised citywide collection fleet closing service gaps in 13 underserved hinterland barangays; upgraded barangay Materials Recovery Facilities across 31 (and expanding) sites; and an AI-enabled IoT monitoring, evaluation and learning platform feeding the city's Smart Command Center.

Component B is the ICEF itself: a modular processing complex sized to divert around 100 tonnes/day into market-ready outputs, including Black Soldier Fly bioconversion and composting for organics, sorting and resale of plastics, paper, metals and e-waste through existing junkshop networks, glass pulverised into eco-aggregates and eco-tiles, coconut husks converted into fibreboards, and residuals prepared as RDF under the existing Holcim and Republic Cement co-processing agreements.

The ICEF is Iligan's anchor circular-economy investment, sitting inside a wider pipeline of green-infrastructure opportunities open to private, PPP and blended-finance participation, including energy recovery integrated with the ICEF's methane capture and RDF streams.

Iligan is one of only three Philippine LGUs selected for direct support under the EU Green Economy Programme for the Philippines (EU GEPP), which is also funding this feasibility study, and has near-term readiness: feasibility submission targeted for mid-2026, approving-body approval by December 2026, contract signing in early 2027 and start of operations by 2028. The initiative's CitizenSmart Circularity platform has already been awarded the GGGI Special Mention Award for Human Centricity at the Seoul Smart City Prize 2024.

Iligan is looking for European partners interested in investment, technology deployment, project development and public-private partnership opportunities. The city offers a strong foundation for demonstrating scalable waste management and resource efficiency solutions that can be replicated across other Philippine and Southeast Asian cities facing similar urban growth and waste challenges.

Goal: Identify investment, technology and operational partners to develop a modern waste management and resource recovery ecosystem that supports circular economy objectives while improving environmental performance and resource efficiency.