Forging a pact for the planet

Bellevue Hotel and Resorts, LIND Boracay, Cibo, The Moment Group, Toby’s Estate, Shakey’s Philippines, Foodpanda, Corkcicle and Fairways and Bluewater.

Remember these brands and establishments as allies in the movement against plastic pollution, as they recently joined World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines’ Plastic Action (PACT), a voluntary business initiative to eliminate plastic pollution.

PACT is part of the first anniversary of WWF-Philippines’ #AyokoNgPlastik movement, and its No Plastics in Nature Initiative. Through PACT, WWF hopes to bring up industry standards of material use by providing advice and assistance to different companies and enable them to make decisions on how they can best adjust their operations while contributing to protecting the environment from unnecessary plastic waste, says WWF-Philippines president and CEO Joel Palma.

The plastic elimination efforts of Bellevue Hotel and Resorts, LIND Boracay, Cibo, The Moment Group, Toby’s Estate, Shakey’s Philippines, Foodpanda, Corkcicle and Fairways and Bluewater were recently recognized by WWF-Philippines under PACT.

Bellevue Hotel and Resorts now serves complimentary water in glass bottles and has stopped serving plastic straws, resulting in the elimination of 668,120 plastic bottles and 246,084 plastic straws a year. LIND Boracay also switched to serving water in glass bottles, preventing 65,480 plastic bottles from becoming trash.

The removal of single-use plastic straws and cutlery has been the focus of Cibo (310,361 plastic straws eliminated from a year’s waste), The Moment Group (114,691 plastic straws and 53,700 plastic cutlery eliminated in one year) and Toby’s Estate (144,000 plastic straws eliminated in a year’s time).

Shakey’s Philippines has also pledged to reduce and eventually eliminate plastic straws and containers, which could lead to the annual reduction of 1.792 million plastic straws and 1.838 million plastic containers. Online food delivery marketplace Foodpanda allowed customers to opt out of plastic cutlery, removing, in one year, 34,633 pairs of cutlery.

Tumbler brand Corkcicle also promotes the use of reusable drinking bottles, eliminating 1.267 million plastic bottles a year. Lastly, Fairways and Bluewater committed to reduce 1.2 million units of plastic yearly by ditching plastic bottles and toiletry containers.

“We really hope that more businesses adopt circular solutions in their operations. Companies contribute to the production, consumption and disposal of plastics globally, which is why it is essential that they also take accountability for this,” said Czarina Constantino, WWF-Philippines’ No Plastics In Nature Initiative Project Manager.

Businesses who become part of PACT have to sign a contract of commitment with WWF-Philippines and, in return, will receive: continued assistance from WWF on strategies, priority and alternative solutions; consultation for baseline plastic consumption measurement; use of tools developed to identify the most sustainable alternatives to plastics; publicity through WWF channels and media partners; exclusive mentions in press release, WWF annual report and others, and use of specially designed marketing collateral from WWF.

PACT partners are also encouraged to release biannual reports on their plastic elimination efforts, Palma says.

Given that fast-moving consumer goods are among the largest causes of plastic pollution, WWF also launched the Resource: Plastic (https://resource-plastic.com/), which aims to work with these companies on identifying and prioritizing activities of greatest impact, providing a step-by-step guidance on best practices and measurement framework to implement the prioritized activities, and connecting to a network of stakeholders and government.

WWF has six members under this project, including Mcdonald’s, Procter and Gamble, Starbucks and Coca-Cola.

“We all have a role to play in finding a solution to this plastics issue—and this includes businesses. We’re very grateful that these companies chose to take on the challenge of putting an end to plastic pollution and supporting our goal, which is to prevent plastic waste from leaking into nature,” Palma says.

To know more about the various WWF initiatives on plastic pollution, visit www.ayokongplastik.org or follow /WWF.Philippines on Facebook. To engage in conversations on plastics, join facebook.com/groups/ayokongplastik.