In 2015, a report by the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment said the Philippines is the third-largest source of plastic trash that ends up in the oceans, after China and Indonesia. According to the report, annually the Philippines generates 2.7 million tons of plastic waste with 20 percent or 540,000 tons of it leaking into the oceans.
Focusing on this situation is an urgent priority for Nestlé Philippines; moreover, the company continues to accelerate its initiatives to tackle plastic waste.
In January 2019, Nestlé globally articulated its broader vision for a waste-free future, that none of its packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfills and oceans, or as litter.
Just over a year and a half later, Nestlé Philippines Chairman and CEO Kais Marzouki announced that the company had reached its latest milestone in pursuit of that vision by achieving plastic neutrality for the months of August and September.
“As an urgent initiative, Nestlé Philippines has succeeded in collecting and diverting from landfills and oceans the amount of plastic equivalent to what we generated from our packaging last August and September, thus making us plastic neutral,” Mr. Marzouki said. During these months, the company recovered 4,763 metric tons of plastic waste.
“Nestlé Philippines is the first multinational fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company in the country to attain plastic neutrality, and we commit to do so every month, ” the CEO said. The company manufactures brands including BEAR BRAND, MILO, NESCAFÉ, COFFEE MATE, MAGGI, NIDO, and CHUCKIE.
Nestlé Philippines has expanded its collaboration with other stakeholders, applied key lessons learned from its pilot programs, and allocated appropriate resources. With the help of partners that share its vision of a waste-free future, the company is committed to maintaining neutrality.
- Nestlé Philippines, Inc. and Republic Cement are collaborating for the collection and co-processing of soft plastic wastes in the latter’s cement kilns, significantly expanding an initial agreement signed in 2019;
- Just before the COVID-19 quarantine was imposed in the country, a partnership agreement to divert plastic waste laminates away from landfills in Cebu province by collecting and co-processing them in cement kilns was signed by Nestlé Philippines and CEMEX Holdings Philippines;
- In another step toward reducing its plastic footprint, Nestlé Philippines has entered into an agreement with Plastic Credit Exchange (PCEx) to collect soft plastic waste from Baseco in Tondo, Manila, Payatas in Quezon City, and Rodriguez in Rizal province;
- The marine conservation social enterprise Pure Oceans and Nestlé Philippines have formed a partnership to design, procure, and operate a prototype boat called Basura Bangka to transport plastic waste from coastal and island communities in Batangas to recycling facilities. Basura Bangka is an innovative mechanism to help address the plastics situation in geographically disadvantaged coastal and island communities that do not have access to conventional waste management solutions.
Accelerating the journey with its firsts
Globally, the company is committed to making its packaging, including plastics, 100% recyclable or reusable by 2025. In pursuing this commitment, Nestlé is addressing the complex and urgent issue of plastic waste by pursuing initiatives holistically in three focus areas: (1) developing the packaging for the future, through packaging and delivery innovation and plastic reduction; (2) helping to shape a waste-free future through increased collection and recycling; and (3) driving new behaviors and understanding through solid waste management education.
Under these three focus areas, Mr. Marzouki cited first-ever accomplishments of Nestlé Philippines in tackling plastic waste:
- The country’s first food and beverage company to shift to paper straws. Nestlé Philippines is identifying alternative materials to make its packaging more sustainable. An equally important milestone is its full transition to the use of paper straws in its locally manufactured ready-to-drink or RTD products that will eliminate the use of 130 metric tons of plastic straws by end of year;
- The country’s first citywide soft plastic waste collection project. In June 2019, Nestlé Philippines piloted May Balik! Sa Plastik! (MBSP), which recovered post-consumer sachets, used beverage cartons, and other soft plastics, in partnership with Valenzuela City. In a significant achievement, the project successfully put a tangible value to soft plastic waste, which previously had no worth. Learnings from MBSP have contributed to the company’s achievement of plastic neutrality;
- The country’s first solid waste management (SWM) education modules to be rolled out in over 10,000 public schools nationwide. Information, education and communication on solid waste management are important in achieving the goal of a waste-free future. Thus, Nestlé Philippines has developed SWM modules integrated into its Nestlé Wellness Campus program. The modules can be used by Grades 1 to 10 students.
In other initiatives, Nestlé Philippines has started to shift its plastic packaging to materials designed for recycling, piloted refilling stations, and is upcycling waste plastic laminates into school chairs.
Supporting Extended Producer Responsibility
Fresh from achieving plastic neutrality in the country, in another major move forward, Nestlé Philippines is advocating the establishment of a localized and cost-effective Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR system for plastic packaging waste.
EPR is an environmental policy approach, and it takes the form of a scheme, in which the responsibility of a producer (manufacturer or importer) for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of the product’s life cycle. The producer assumes responsibility for managing the disposal of products after consumption, whether financial or physical, or both.
In practice, a producer’s responsibility ends when its products are purchased and consumed. What happens to the waste afterwards is typically left for municipal waste management systems to cope with.
A legislated EPR scheme in the country targeting plastic waste will see producers being primarily involved in the collection and disposal of their residual waste.
Initiated in the 1980s, EPR is practiced in various countries including those in Europe and Asia that have laws mandating it, requiring increased private sector participation in managing the waste stream.
In an EPR scheme, an entity called a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) is usually formed by producers and held responsible for retrieving packaging from the market. Transaction costs are paid by obliged parties.The PRO becomes accountable for spending funds paid to it and ensures waste is collected and diverted away from landfills and water. In the Philippines, a PRO can be formed to deal, for starters, with residual plastic waste.
Several bills have been filed in Congress mandating EPR, among which is HB 6279 by Congressman Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro, 2nd District).
An EPR scheme aims to increase collection and recycling rates in the country. The increased availability of material collected should encourage recyclers to use the plastic to make new packaging materials or manufacture other products. For example, plastic waste is now used to make school chairs, eco-bricks, and even roads. It may also be used as an alternative fuel to coal.
“At Nestlé, we strongly believe that an EPR scheme for plastic waste will support and enhance a self-sustaining waste management system that will integrate the informal sector, as it incentivizes collection and recycling rates, and the development of eco-design. EPR can be made possible through multi-stakeholder collaboration, building on cooperation as seen in the partnerships that have enabled us to achieve plastic neutrality,” said Mr. Marzouki.
“Finally, tackling the challenge of plastic waste cannot be successfully achieved by a single or linear solution. We must look into different options both upstream and downstream. We need to take a holistic approach as we continue accelerating our initiatives to tackle plastic waste,” he concluded.