Since 2019, Mayor Josefina ‘Joy’ Belmonte has sat at the helm of Quezon City, the Philippines’ most populous metropolis. As the city’s first elected female leader, Belmonte has championed inclusive governance, social equity and environmental sustainability.
In 2023, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) named Belmonte a Champion of the Earth. This accolade, the UN’s highest environmental honour, recognised her efforts to tackle plastic pollution, one of the city’s – and the planet’s – most pressing environmental threats. Under Belmonte’s leadership, Quezon City has banned single-use plastics, promoted refill stations for daily essentials and launched a programme offering residents cash for their garbage.
With the world facing a surge in plastic pollution, UNEP recently sat down with Belmonte to discuss what lies behind her city’s success and what its plans are for the future.
Why did you decide that plastic pollution is one of the most important issues to tackle?
Before I entered public service, there was a very strong weather disturbance – three days of continuous rain. Much of the city was flooded. When the rain stopped and the floodwaters started to subside, much of the city was blanketed in plastic. It’s a sight I’ll never forget.
The floods stayed for several days because our drainage systems were blocked by plastic pollution. Plastic pollution was responsible for the suffering our people endured during that time. So, when I became vice mayor and then mayor, I began making ordinances on single-use plastics.
What policies have been the most effective in reducing plastic pollution?
The third policy I passed as mayor was the banning of single-use plastics and also single-use packaging material, because I wanted to curb waste in dining and hospitality. This has been effective. But we’ve also had a number of other very successful projects and programmes.
What are some of those?
The Trash to Cashback programme allows people to exchange recyclable goods and plastics for environmental points that they can redeem for commodities, like rice, milk and sugar. As of January 2025, this has generated about 500,000 kilogrammes of recyclable goods and materials, especially plastic, and it helps lower socioeconomic brackets fulfil their basic needs.
We also have a refilling programme, which (incentivises) people and businesses to refill their basic household products like fabric softener, detergent and dishwashing liquid at filling stations. This saves time and money as compared to buying [plastic] sachets wholesale.
Then, for big companies as well as organisations, schools, hospitals, barangays and youth councils, we implemented the Green Awards. The awards are a testament to an institution’s willingness to be warriors for climate and environmental action. We found that these awards caused big companies to start implementing their own sustainable practices.
How have you seen progress in your municipality catalyse similar efforts elsewhere?
As the Filipino city with the largest population, Quezon City is in a good position to spark change. When we are successful in doing one thing, usually other government units come to our city to copy our best practices. For example, we were the first highly urbanised city to do urban farming. Then the Department of Interior and Local Government said, ‘Hey, that’s a good idea to do farming in vacant land.’ So, it now mandates that every single community has its own urban farm.
How can you encourage businesses and residents to adopt more sustainable practices?
The core value of our leadership here in Quezon City is that we are very people-centred and never make decisions without consulting those involved. It makes all the difference because it means our policies are grounded in lived experiences and therefore very implementable. There can never be trust if there is no engagement, dialogue or consultation.
We also change behaviour through education. We have managed to get plastic- and climate-related topics incorporated into the curricula of schools under our jurisdiction by developing accessible and inclusive climate action books. We have also started distributing tumblers to school children and putting water fountains in schools. Now, kids are learning and parents are learning from their children.
How has being named a UNEP Champion of the Earth affected your work?
It was something I did not expect, and it’s quite an honour and privilege. We were just doing this work because it was the right thing to do, and we felt it was our moral responsibility. But the award is also a challenge. We now have an even bigger obligation to bring this work beyond the borders of our city and convince other local governments, other mayors, other cities to think about environmental stewardship.
The Philippines is a full-share contributor to UNEP’s core fund, the Environment Fund, as well as the thematic UNEP Pollution Fund. How has the Philippines’ partnership with UNEP supported environmental efforts in Quezon City and throughout the country?
For one, we are a Generation Restoration City under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, co-led by UNEP, and this is helping us inventory biodiversity and create wildlife corridors. We are really benefiting from this.
More broadly, I appreciate that UNEP places importance on the views of Global South leaders. The challenge for us is to not to only be reactive to environmental changes but to have a proactive stance. The fact that UNEP is there to guide and support us really allows us to raise our voices, to step up and take on challenges that are affecting our jurisdictions. I’m very grateful for that help.
The Philippines is one of UNEP’s full-share funding partners, whose contributions to UNEP’s core fund, the Environment Fund, underpin UNEP’s global body of work. The Philippines’ further contributions to the UNEP Pollution Fund enable agile, innovative global solutions for pollution and waste.
