| TYPE OF PROGRAM: CSR

| START: July 2020

| STATUS: On-going

| TARGET: 2,000 Metric Tons

| PARTNERSHIP SUMMARY:

Creating solutions to end plastic pollution in the Philippines

Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) is a non-governmental organization that collaborates with stakeholders from public and private sectors, civil societies, academia, and communities to help end plastic waste in the environment. With over 90 partners, AEPW aims to bring together a diverse network of resources and expertise with ending the plastic pollution crisis as its end goal. This alliance brings forth a light where collaboration with different companies, organizations, and communities can be a catalyst for innovative solutions to share with the world.

AEPW acknowledges that ending plastic waste is ambitious. However, this does not mean that the world must accept defeat versus the crisis of plastic solution. As such, AEPW works closely with policy makers, non-governmental organizations, and local communities to drive and deliver transformational changes to end the looming destruction of the planet brought about by plastic wastes. 

Given the same passion in fighting plastic pollution, AEPW partnered with The Plastic Flamingo to initiate transformative solutions and help in preventing mismanaged plastic wastes from escaping to the oceans.

In July of 2020, AEPW and The Plastic Flamingo initiated its three-year partnership in creating solutions to end plastic pollution in the Philippines. The partnership aims to sponsor the development of The Plastic Flamingo’s recycling plant in Muntinlupa City that will pre-treat plastic waste and extrude it as Eco-Planks—the Planks of Promise. These planks may be used to establish pontoons and outdoor furniture that are also sold by the social enterprise.

More than the planks, the partnership also founded the vision for the social enterprise’s Shelter Kits. Made from 100% recycled plastics, the Eco-Planks were used to build The Plastic Flamingo’s first shelter which—in partnership with AEPW—aims to aid for humanitarian disaster relief and the social enterprise’s expansion to retail and construct more shelters using the lumbers. This provided more opportunities for The Plastic Flamingo to maximize the support of AEPW for efforts beyond just recycling plastic wastes.

Apart from the planks and shelter, the partnership also fueled The Plastic Flamingo to add 100% recycled HDPE (rHDPE) plastic resin pellets in its portfolio. The equipment sponsorship from AEPW allowed the social enterprise to open its pelletizing line on which HDPE plastics are repurposed and recycled as pellets. These can be made as a substitute to virgin plastic pellets that are core to the production of packaging materials like bottles that are used everyday.

In the hopes of doing more, AEPW and The Plastic Flamingo are both looking forward to what is next beyond the facilities and products that bore from their partnership. They do not just aim to save the waters from mismanaged plastic wastes, but to build a safer community through the products that the social enterprise offers.