By now, almost everyone has heard of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report on climate change. If you haven’t, click here to watch a quick summary. Long story short, we’re the problem. And, there’s just too many of us. For a while now, I’ve been quietly looking for and learning ways to help out by lessening my emissions. I also have some mentors who have been so helpful in this journey of sustainably lowering my carbon footprint without sacrificing too much of the lifestyle I enjoy or making it too inconvenient.

Recycling and cutting down on our plastic waste is one of the most straightforward ways to lower our emissions. While I do try to avoid single-use plastic, there are some establishments both here and abroad, that still use them for their packaging. At the same time, it’s quite difficult to give up on the convenience it brings. Let’s be honest here.

Recycling in Manila need not be tedious

The past few months, we’ve been going for meal delivery plans. I’m not your traditional homemaker and you guys know cooking every day is not my thing. We also wanted to be a bit more mindful of our food intake. All the plastic we’ve been using is making me feel so guilty. 

So I started crowdsourcing on what we can do to our plastic waste at home. At least, while we’re here in Manila and especially while we’re on meal plans. Some people recommended that we ask the meal delivery service to use our own containers for our food. However, since we change our service almost every week, it doesn’t seem sustainable. I’m not claiming to be Greta Thunberg here. I’m just someone with a crazy schedule who wants to lessen her existence’s impact on the planet.

Alas, my friends over at Instagram had suggested recycling them by giving our plastic waste to these companies operating in the Metro. If you’re looking for ways to recycle plastic and even the things you declutter from your home, here are some of the most popular suggestions:

Green Antz Builders

They accept clean and dry plastic which they will turn into building materials such as eco bricks, eco casts, and eco pavers. They produce these building materials by shredding your donations and mixing them with the usual ingredients like gravel, sand, cement, and others.

I have personally used this service. It’s quick, easy, and convenient. I walked over to their Salcedo Market drop-off on a rainy day pre-ECQ/MECQ and the guy running their stall was really friendly and helpful. They weigh the plastic you bring and let you know how much you were able to keep away from landfills. They also sum up their collections and make posts about them on their Facebook page.

Here’s a guideline of what they do and do not accept:

Take note that GreenAntz only accepts plastic that’s clean. No food bits, no residue. I’ve been washing our meal plan containers with dishwashing soap. Sure, it’s one extra step after every meal and believe me, I know that throwing the containers away can be tempting. However, I always tell myself that this is pretty doable despite my schedule and that I should stop whining. I don’t have the time or patience to make eco-bricks myself but this one, I should be able to do. I just make sure to dry them up by the window in our storage room before I bring them to the drop-off points.

GreenAntz Drop-off points:

Note: Do check with them whether their drop-off points are open as they can be affected by the varying levels of lockdowns. Message them on their Facebook page for exact locations.

  • Salcedo Market (every Saturday, 7am-11am)
  • BGC High Street (every Saturday, 11am-4pm)
  • Ayala Malls Feliz (every Saturday, 9am-2pm)
  • Ayala Malls Solenad (every other Saturday, 11am-6pm)

NutriAsia’s Bring Your Own Bote

I chanced upon the BYOB kiosk while waiting for my husband to pick me up in BGC. It’s a shop where you can bring your own bottle (bote in Filipino) and refill your condiments instead of buying them in the grocery stores where they come in plastic bottles. Pro tip: This is more cost-effective, especially if you cook a lot at home! From oil to vinegar, ketchup, and soy sauce, they have it all in this small shop at the grounds of The Mind Museum.

They also have big containers where you can drop off your plastic waste which is used to create furniture for the Gat Andres Bonifacio High School in Taguig. They’re open seven days a week and the guy manning the kiosk told me that if I arrive before or after they open, I can also leave the plastic beside the containers and they will take care of them.

The Plaf

The Plastic Flamingo is an initiative suggested by one of the friends I have made on Instagram. It was started by a French couple who, during a year-long cycling tour from France to Vietnam, noticed the world’s plastic problem. So they designed a plastic waste management system that’s efficient and flexible, making it suitable for developing nations. They moved to the Philippines in 2018 and started The Plaf’s operations here.

Source: The Plaf

Like GreenAntz, they also turn plastic waste into building materials. In partnership with the University of the Philippines, they turn them into planks that can be used for emergency shelters, piles, and pontoons. Eighty per cent of their employees are women so that’s also a huge plus. We love a social enterprise that also empowers females.

You can find their drop-off points on their website and Instagram account.

Humble Sustainability

If you have stuff other than plastic to get rid of, then there’s Humble Sustainability. I first encountered this social enterprise when I was a guest at Tita Lo‘s online show called Stories for a Better Normal in an episode where we talked about practical sustainability. Humble’s Nina and Josef were there to discuss what they do.

Their social enterprise promotes a circular mindset that leads us one step closer to a circular economy. This, by collecting items people no longer use, breathing new life into them, and bringing them back into circulation so that there won’t be a need to produce and consume new things. They’re a great company to work with when you’re doing a major declutter. And the best part is you don’t have to pay them – it’s all free.

Source: Humble Sustainability

You just have to book a date and time for when they can come over to pick up your decluttered items. Then, they come over and pick up your junk which is then reused, recycled, and upcycled. I know I’ll be booking their service once it’s time for us to go on another posting as I usually declutter a lot before packing. And yes, they also accept plastic! For a list of everything they accept, you can go to this link.

My Basurero

Through My Basurero (My Garbage Collector), you can exchange plastic, paper, metal, and more for points. These points can then be exchanged for different items like rice or you can also use them to pay for certain goods and services through their partner businesses. The waste you give will be used to create storage solutions.

You can book a pick up online or you can drop off your recyclables at MBE-C Brixton Technology Center in Pasig City. You can also check out this link for their other pick up locations as well as their partner stores where you can redeem your points.

September 14, 2021