The business sector was urged to reuse discarded materials in other productive applications in their operations in order to help reduce garbage, which is projected to grow with the economy’s expansion. The call was made by Geocycle, the waste-management arm of building solutions provider Holcim Philippines Inc.
Geocycle Head John Alindao called for businesses to adopt a circular economy mind-set, which favors reusing materials instead of immediately disposing them in order to maximize resources.
The approach allows businesses to increase their positive impact on development, particularly on waste management, Alindao said, during the waste-management service provider’s second Business Dialogue for stakeholders.
Alindao cited cited Holcim Philippines’s use of qualified waste materials as alternative fuel and resources in cement production through its coprocessing technology. The practice allows the company to reduce its traditional fuel consumption while providing a sustainable waste-management option that helps lessen the trash that ends up in landfills, he said.
He noted that it is important for the country to be more mindful about waste management, as garbage generation is expected to grow with the economy’s expansion.
In a recent report, the National Solid Waste Management Commission estimated that waste generation in the Philippines will reach 16.6 million tons by 2020, from 14.6 million tons in 2017.
Alindao said this provides Geocycle an opportunity to steadily increase its waste-management services as demand from companies and local governments for such services grow.
Geocycle’s Business Dialogue was held recently at the Fort in Taguig City. It was attended by over a hundred 100 guests from the industrial, manufacturing and consumer goods sectors, as well as government officials and environmental organizations.
In December 2017 Geocycle was cited by the Department of Finance for helping destroy more than 115 million cigarette packs bearing fake tax stamps seized by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs from Mighty Corp. in March 2017. The items were coprocessed as alternative fuel in Holcim Philippines’s cement manufacturing facilities.
Holcim Philippines Inc. is one of the leading building-solution companies in the country. It has cement-manufacturing facilities in La Union, Bulacan, Misamis Oriental and Davao, as well as aggregates and dry mix business and technical support facilities for building solutions.