Nestlé PHL, CEMEX to collect and divert plastic waste in Cebu
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.
The agreement is one of the initiatives of Nestlé Philippines under a long-term plastic waste collection and recovery program.
Nestlé Philippines Chairman and CEO Kais Marzouki and CEMEX holdings Philippines President and CEO Ignacio Mijares elizondo signed the agreement.
under the partnership, Nestlé Philippines, through its program partners and authorized transportation provider, will collect postconsumer soft plastics, and preprocess and transport these to the APO Cement Corp.’s plant in Tinaan, Naga City in Cebu. APO Cement, a subsidiary of CEMEX holdings Philippines, will in turn co-process the post-consumer soft plastics.
The waste plastic laminates will be sourced from different cities and municipalities in Cebu.
In April 2018, Nestlé announced its global commitment to make 100 percent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. Nestlé’s vision is to achieve a waste-free future with none of its packaging, particularly plastic, going to landfills, the oceans, or as litter.
“We welcome this new agreement and we thank CEMEX holdings Philippines for making it possible for us to further intensify our actions to address plastic waste. We are happy to extend this initiative beyond the National Capital Region to Cebu in our efforts to reach various areas of the country,” said Marzouki.
elizondo said, “We’re very excited to jumpstart our partnership with Nestlé, the largest food and beverage conglomerate in the world. We recognize and gladly support Nestlé’s commitment to tackling plastic waste."
“CEMEX and Nestlé have a shared vision to make a significant difference and contribute to the economic, social and environmental growth of the Philippines. A green environment will always be at the center of Cemex’s ‘Build A Nation Together’ CSR efforts. Our advocacies are dedicated to uplift lives, communities, and protect the environment.”
CEMEX is a leading global company in the construction materials industry that manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries. CEMEX operations in the Philippines started 23 years ago in 1997. Today CEMEX holdings Philippines, with its cement manufacturing subsidiaries Solid Cement and APO Cement and its brands APO, Island and Rizal, is one of the top cement producers in the country based on installed annual capacity.
As a method of waste disposal, co-processing is permitted by local environmental laws and regulations, and is practiced in various countries. In the Philippines, cement kiln coprocessing is preferable to landfilling and physical treatment, since energy and minerals from waste are almost completely used up.