Case resolved

I’m no longer involved in the paper manufacturing process. However, I still receive through snail mail my regular magazine from Valmet, a leading supplier of paper-making machines and equipment. One article in the magazine caught my attention. It’s about Valmet supplying equipment to a company called Renewcell for their textile recycling plant in Sweden. It is the world’s first commercial scale textile recycling plant.

The article says that Renewcell’s patented process can ‘upcyle’cellulosic textile waste such as cotton and viscose clothes (a semi-synthetic type of rayon fabric made from wood pulp that is used as a silk substitute) transforming them into dissolving pulp product called ‘Circulose’. Upcycling means reusing discarded materials to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.

Renewcell boasts that using their breakthrough process powered by 100% renewable energy, they transform old clothes into a pristine natural material that needs no cotton fields, no oil, and no t r ees.

So how do they do it? They take in garments that can’t be resold to people because they are either they’re way too wornout or hopelessly out of style. They prefer cotton clothes because they contain a lot of cellulose. The clothes are shredded, de-buttoned, dezipped, de-colored and turned into a slurry.

Contaminants like plastic polyester are taken out. What remains is cellulose - the biodegradable organic polymer that cotton, trees and all green plants on earth are made out of. The slurry is dried to produce sheets of pure Circulose®. They package the sheets into bales and ship them to be made back into natural textile fibers.

This textile upcycling business will reduce the huge impact that the fashion industry has on the environment. According to the Geneva Environment Network (GEN), fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. What’s more, 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year (UNECE, 2018), and washing some types of clothes sends significant amount of microplastics into the ocean.

Consider these figures compiled by GEN: The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second (UNEP, 2018); Approximately 60% of all materials used by the fashion industry are made from plastic (UNEP, 2019); Some 93 billion cubic meters of water – enough to meet the needs of five million people – is used by the fashion industry annually, contributing significantly to water scarcity in some regions (UNCTAD, 2020); Around 20% of industrial wastewater pollution worldwide originates from the fashion industry (WRI, 2017).

Some apparel companies are joining initiatives to cut back on textile pollution and grow cotton more sustainably. The United Nations launched an Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, which will coordinate efforts across agencies to make the fashion industry less harmful.

IN A STATEMENT furnished this writer by Mabalacat City News, through the kindness of Rosan Paquia, CPDO chief and OIC, City Agriculture Office, the Office of the Ombudsman has reportedly dismissed with finality the fund malversation complaint filed against City Mayor Crisostomo C. Garbo and four other government officials-City Human Resources Management Officer Merla P. de Leon, City Accountant Aileen C. Rigor, then Acting City Treasurer Marlene M. Mendiola and then Assistant (acting?) City Budget Officer Narce P. Paqui a.

The charges stemmed from the complaints of former City Councilor Jerry Basilio and Rogelio "Jeng" Yumul. They alleged that Mayor Garbo and the four government officials violated Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code by diversion of funds for salaries of JO personnel.

The Order of the Ombudsman, however, disputed the allegations saying that the funds allocated for the salaries of the JO personnel were applied to pay for the special rates of some JO personnel and therefore there was no technical mal ver sat i on.

Mayor Garbo, in accepting the Order of the Ombudsman, said "that the decision of the higher court brings justice for the wrongfully accused since the documentary proofs presented to the court invalidate the claims of the complainants.

He added that whatever their motives were, it is clear to the people of Mabalacat that the funds were used in its most forthright way. Transparency and accountability have been my consistent pillars in local gover nance.

The documentary evidences presented by the mayor included Appropriation Ordinance (AO) No. 6, series of 2017 and Appropriation Ordinance No. 8, series of 2018 which were both passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

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The Pampanga Field Office of the Department of Labor and Employment has transferred its offices from Esting's Building,

Barangay Dolores to Kingspire Business Center, San Isidro, City of San Fer nando.

I accompanied my daugther, Janine to file a complaint versus J4 plus Construction with offices at Barangay Mabiga, Mabalacat City, beside Goldenland Subdivision gate. In her complaint, my daugther alleged she was illegally dismissed without due process. She was fully attended to by Ms. Arlene Tolentino, head of the field office who promised to call J4 Construction firm and, possibly visit the same.