PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles rank as one of the most recycled and upcycled waste materials
A marketplace for plastic has observed a sharp increase in the demand for recycling and upcycling following the passage of a law that incentivizes increasing investment in recycling infrastructure.
PCX Markets, which helps fund plastic waste recovery, said upcycling and recycling credits on its platform skyrocketed by 1,500 percent in 2023 as large corporations looked for new ways to meet sustainability goals and compliance requirements. The sale of those credits helped fund the upcycling or recycling of 9 million kilogram (kg) of plastic waste last year alone.
PCX Markets credit this surge on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022 requiring corporations with assets over P100 million to recover and divert 20 percent of their accountable plastic packaging footprint by the end of 2023. The recovery and diversion target increases to 40 percent by end of 2024, and in increments of 10 percent every year until 80 percent by end of 2028 and beyond.
Companies that want to complement upstream reduction efforts by funding downstream plastic waste recovery can purchase credits issued by projects, including recyclers and upcyclers, that want to raise funds to expand capacity. One credit cleans up one metric ton of plastic pollution.
One of the projects on the PCX Markets platform is an upcycler based in Bulacan that
uses plastics from beverage cartons and other low-value flexible items, like sachets, to create boards for use in construction and furniture. An overall rise in demand for credits in 2023 helped support this upcycler’s operating costs; as a result, they aim to triple their processing capacity by September of 2024.
Another project on the marketplace, based in Davao, recycles PET bottles into flakes that can be used in various products such as plastic containers, PET straps and fibers used in clothing. Rising demand for credits has helped reduce the volatility brought on by fluctuations in demand for flakes, giving this recycler the confidence to invest in more capacity for 2024 and beyond. The recycler estimates that the new infrastructure will allow them to process an additional 1 million kg of plastic waste into flakes every month, representing a 15 percent increase over last year.
“The Philippines urgently needs a market-based mechanism to fund the cleanup of the plastic pollution that’s choking our country. We also need a financing mechanism to kickstart the growth of our recycling industry, which is really in its early days. PCX Markets hopes to do our part by supporting both,” said PCX Markets founder Nanette Medved-Po. “We’re incredibly excited to see a sharp rise in demand for recycling and upcycling credits. Companies now have to take responsibility for 40 percent of their plastic footprint by the end of this year.”
