Two food companies under Century Pacific Group (CPG) are now officially “plastic-neutral,” fulfilling a goal set in 2019 to help manage its post-consumer waste.
Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) meanwhile eyes to be carbon neutral in 10 years.
CPG said both Century Pacific Food (CNPF) and Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures have marked their first year of being “100 percent plastic-neutral” in January, following a push in 2019 to be plastic-neutral this year.
Both are among the country’s top consumer companies working to minimize their environmental footprint.
“Being plastic-neutral means a company is able to recover the amount of plastic equal to what it uses and converts it into energy,” noted CPG.
In 2019, both CNPF and Shakey’s, alongside Republic Cement, and in cooperation with impact company Friends of Hope agreed to co-process post-consumer plastic waste and convert it to energy that is used as fuel in producing cement.
“Consumer companies face significant cost and performance challenges in finding more sustainable alternatives to plastic. While co-processing is not the perfect solution, it can mitigate the environmental impact of plastic usage,” said Christopher Po, CPG president.
Co-processing uses heat to destroy and recover any thermal or mineral properties of waste materials, so that these can be used in cement processing in a single, combined operation, added Po.
“At a high temperature of 1,450°C, co-processed waste leaves zero residue,” he said.
According to Po, the partnership with Republic Cement was meant to “balance out our environmental effects.”
“Our brands represent quality, value-for-money products. We hope that they will eventually stand for responsible consumption as well,” he added.
Meanwhile, AGI said it eyes to be carbon neutral in 10 years as part of its contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Carbon neutral means a business’ operation does not contribute to carbon dioxide emission into the air despite consuming resources.
AGI said the companies under its wings — Megaworld Corp. for real estate; Emperador Inc. for liquor; Travellers International Hotel Group for gaming, entertainment and hotels; Golden Arches Development Corp. for quick service restaurants under the McDonald’s brand; and Infracorp Development Inc. for infrastructure — rolled out various programs and activities to support its goals at the recent SustainAGIlity Summit it hosted at Hilton Manila.
“We must start to become more conscious and responsible for the long-term social, economic, and environmental impact of our businesses. As a responsible corporate citizen, our decisions should no longer just be driven by what is good and profitable, but by what is right,” said Kevin Tan, AGI chief executive officer.
AGI currently employs over 80,000 people in its various businesses across the country.
“Megaworld, and its subsidiaries Empire East Land Holdings, Inc. (EELHI), Global-Estate Resorts, Inc. (GERI), and Suntrust Properties, Inc. (SPI), which employ over 5,000 people, lead the pack by committing to continue creating sustainable townships and communities that utilize renewable energy and promoting ‘plastic neutrality.’ It also commits to create around three million direct and indirect jobs in its various developments across the country within 10 years,” Tan said.
“Emperador, on the other hand, with its vast vineyard properties across Spain and state-of-the-art distilleries in Scotland, vowed to continue utilizing technologies that save water and reduce emission,” he added.
Emperador maintains vineyards and forest lands in Spain totaling around 1,500 hectares.
AGI’s quick-service restaurant, the McDonald’s franchise, advocates the use of reusable cutlery and the minimized use of plastics through the introduction of paper bags, straws and lids.
Golden Arches has started rolling out reusable packaging, solar rooftops and use of ecobricks in some of its stores, and reinforced waste segregation system, noted Tan.
The group at the same times has committed to generate at least 5 million direct and indirect jobs by 2030.
Tan said Emperador’s global businesses employ both white-collar and blue-collar workers in the Philippines, Europe and South America, and even support local farmers.
“Travellers International, likewise, embarks on projects that utilize renewable energy such as solar, and the employment of more local hires in its casino and hotel operations,” he said.
He added Golden Arches, which operates McDonald’s Philippines, has over 65,000 directly-hired employees all over the Philippines, with an average of 80-100 additional workers employed for every restaurant that is opened. This also includes job opportunities for students and out-of-school youth in a special employment program.
“Our collective strength as a conglomerate certainly gives us the ability to make these positive changes happen,” Tan said.
