ALASKA Milk Corp. and D&G Pacific Corp. on Wednesday launched a multi-layered plastic upcycling facility that aims to collect and upcycle over three metric tons of single-use plastics per day, the companies’ officials said.
“As a responsible producer of plastics used in the packaging of our products, Alaska Milk is devoted to recovering not just the same amount but even more volume of plastics we release in the market,” said Tarang Gupta, the company’ managing director.
The facility, which sits on five hectares of land in Antipolo City, required an investment of P45 million, according to Jose Ildebrando B. Ambrosio, legal counsel of waste-management company D&G Pacific.
“As Alaska, we have created an ecosystem so we are already 100% plastic neutral, which means we are collecting plastics more than what we generate. Now, what we are doing is investing in upcycling facilities so that the plastic we collect can go into these and turn into something,” Mr. Gupta said.
Through the upcycling facility, single-use plastics are collected and turned into boards that can be used and reused in furniture production or as construction material.
“We target zero-waste management by developing sustainable materials recovery facilities (MRF) like this multi-layered plastic upcycling facility. With the efforts of Alaska Milk and with the help and support of our potential partners, we strongly believe that we will create a huge impact towards sustaining a greener environment,” said Edmund Gregory Dimalanta, president of D&G Pacific and RePurpose, Inc.
RePurpose was established to assume the rights and obligation to operate the multi-layered plastic upcycling facility.
“If this became successful, we would probably expand this facility but we are always open for partnerships. My invitation to other companies would be to explore. I am confident that this model would work,” Mr. Gupta said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dimalanta said that his group is looking at replicating the facility in other parts of the country, namely: Cauayan City, Isabela; Baguio City; Quezon City; and Antipolo City.
“Antipolo wants us to manage the MRF and bring more, build more of these facilities,” Mr. Dimalanta said, adding that the target is for the projects to be in place by the fourth quarter. “But we want the signing to happen next quarter.” — Ashley Erika O. Jose