Turning Trash into Treasure: The Impact of Upcycling and Recycling Plastic Waste
Plastic Flamingo is a social enterprise that recycles and upcycles plastic waste, including low-value plastics such as sachets, into eco-boards that can be made into furniture. Photo by Benjamin Estanislao, Jr.
Plastic pollution is an ever-growing concern in the Philippines, but amidst the crisis, an inspiring initiative is making waves. Enter Plastic Flamingo, a social enterprise dedicated to recycling and upcycling plastic waste into valuable resources while transforming lives and promoting sustainability.
In the Philippines, plastic waste is a serious environmental and social issue. The country is one of the top contributors of plastic pollution in the world and its communities are disproportionately affected by its impact.
Single-use plastic items, especially sachets, are a growing concern. In the Philippines, sachets are cheap and small, single-use plastic packages commonly used for personal care, food, and household products. They have become a ubiquitous part of daily life in the country, but also contribute to the plastic pollution problem. WWF-Philippines also found that Filipinos generate 2.15 million metric tonnes of plastic waste per year, of which 62% are low-value plastics such as sachets.
Plastic Flamingo is providing collection services for plastic waste in Manila North Port and the port of Batangas. Photo by Benjamin Estanislao, Jr.
Due to the unsustainable production and the lack of infrastructure, as well as the archipelagic nature of the country, 35% of plastic waste in the Philippines leaks to the environment or goes to the landfills, the research also states.
But amidst this crisis, there are initiatives that aim to address this problem. One of them is the Plastic Flamingo (Plaf), a social enterprise that turns plastic waste into a valuable resource, while also creating livelihood opportunities and promoting sustainable practices.
“Our mission is to address the question of marine plastic pollution,” says Plaf Founder and CEO François Lesage. “The best way to do it is to reduce plastic waste at the source on land and find a way to recycle the plastic that is already in the market.”
Plastic Flamingo’s eco-boards are made of 100% plastic waste. Photo by Benjamin Estanislao, Jr.
Plaf collects plastic waste from 200 collection points across Metro Manila which they sort, clean, and process into new products that are both functional and sustainable. These products include eco-boards and lumber that can be used to build resilient structures. The main innovation is their capacity to upcycle plastic sachets.
By upcycling sachets, they create an incentive for waste workers to collect the discarded plastic packaging, instead of leaving them behind as litter.
WWF-Philippines, with support from the Grieg Foundation and the Grieg Group, is working with Plaf on the “Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Improving Port Waste Management in the Philippines'' project, which aims to reduce plastic waste leakage in the ports of Manila North, Batangas and Cagayan De Oro. Plaf’s role is to provide waste segregation bins made from upcycled plastic waste, collect plastic waste in ports, transport this waste to a place where it will be recycled, and lead seminars on plastic waste with the authorities and staff of the ports of Manila North and Batangas.
“We saw how (Plaf) helps upcycle and recycle waste that end up in waterways or in landfills – also a perfect timing to educate people in ports about how proper segregation will help facilitate recycling and upcycling,” says Czarina Constantino-Panopio, Project Manager of the Cleans Ports, Clean Oceans project.
In the Port of Batangas, almost 1000 kilograms of plastic waste, coming mainly from port offices and passengers, have been collected within two months. In Manila North Port, 558 kilogrammes of plastic waste have been collected across three months. Plaf’s trucks have collected plastic waste straight from the ports and delivered it to their facilities to be converted into new products.
Under the ‘Clean Ports, Clean Oceans: Improving Port Waste Management in the Philippines’ project, Plastic Flamingo collects plastic waste from Manila North Port on a weekly basis. Photo by Benjamin Estanislao, Jr.
But more than just turning plastic waste into new items, Plaf's work has a significant impact on the communities they work with. They also focus on education by sharing knowledge on plastic waste, the economic opportunities available in upcycling and recycling them and the benefits to the environment.
“They showed us how they were able to transform this plastic waste into usable [materials],” says Environmental Specialist Marisa Arimado of the Philippine Ports Authority at the Manila North Harbour. “We only think it is trash, when in fact they can still be useful.”
About WWF:
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
WWF-Philippines has been successfully implementing various conservation projects to help protect some of the most biologically-significant ecosystems in Asia since its establishment as the 26th national organization of the WWF network in 1997.
