Coca-Cola Philippines, in line with its vision of a World Without Waste–where the company aims to help collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle and can it sells by 2030–has joined hands with its long-time partner, the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), and budding social enterprise, the Plastic Flamingo (PLAF), to help improve the collection and recycling of plastic PET packaging at the community level.
Coca-Cola aims to help solve the global plastic packaging crisis by providing inclusive circular economy solutions. These include projects to prevent recyclable packaging from ending up in landfills and the oceans, while empowering the waste value chain by providing waste pickers with proper equipment and skills training.
With the partnership with PBSP and Plastic Flamingo, Coca-Cola aims to help collect at least 500 metric tons of plastic waste within one year across traditional collection points, junk shops, and communities in Muntinlupa City. The project will involve collaboration with 27 junk shops and 20 waste collectors in the target area who will be educated on the different plastic types.
Through PBSP, the collectors will be provided with tools for collection such as tri-bikes and other resources to support their health and livelihoods such as personal protective equipment (PPEs), health insurance, and vitamins. These are on top of the premiums they receive collecting recyclable plastic materials that can help in improving and uplifting their lives.
Plastic waste gathered by partner collectors will be sold to the designated junk shops, who will then deliver the raw materials to PLAF facilities for upcycling.
Coca-Cola continues its commitment to reaching a World Without Waste through various partnerships and initiatives including its partnership work with Plastic Bank, World Wildlife Fund Philippines (WWF-PH), PeacePond Farmers Association (PFA) and other like-minded organizations. At present, Coca-Cola Philippines, in partnership with its local social investment arm, the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, has empowered nearly 40 communities in 22 provinces across the country with opportunities to better manage their solid waste.
The company is also accelerating the launch of a major new PET recycling facility in General Trias, Cavite. The facility–a joint partnership between local bottler, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines and Bangkok-based Indorama Ventures, a global leader in packaging solutions and green technology–will be the largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in the Philippines and is expected to process around 30,000 metric tons of used PET bottles and produce around 16,000 metric tons of recycled PET resin every year.
