Globe joins hands with Green Antz Builders and its distribution partners in an urgent mission to drive environmental conservation through the responsible disposal and processing of single-use plastic wastes.
The partnership is a year-long engagement to responsibly dispose and process single-use plastic waste and look for potential solutions to this growing social and environmental problem.
Single-use plastics (SUP), also called disposable plastic products, are utilized as materials in packaging and are often used just once before they are thrown away. These include grocery bags, food containers, cups, and cutlery.
“Globe recognizes that mitigating the proliferation of single-use plastics cannot be done by one organization alone. So we make sure that the responsibility of environmental stewardship also involves its value chain such as existing distribution partners for the proper collection, transport, and processing of plastic wastes,” said Globe Chief Sustainability Officer and SVP for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto.
To curb SUP waste from harming the environment, Globe and Green Antz are working together to ensure that all SUPs from within Globe’s headquarters are responsibly processed before transporting to the Green Antz facility in Bulacan.
Since it began the collection process in July, 14 distribution partners from Manila and Central Luzon collected over 36,000 pieces of stone papers and tarpaulins that weighed an estimated 3,520 kilograms.
The materials were sent to the Green Antz facility to be converted into 80,000 eco-bricks or 32,000 eco-casts, which can be used to build schools and gardens. Recently, more than 238,000 pieces of old stone paper and used tarpaulins will again be processed by Green Antz via its hubs in Bulacan, Cebu, CDO and Davao for conversion into eco-bricks and eco-casts. Green Antz uses eco-friendly practices and green technologies to provide building solutions.
With the success of the pilot implementation, the program will soon involve more distributors across the country next year.
“We are excited about this partnership with Globe as we can create more impact and awareness together. Green Antz is grateful for this milestone which will pave the way for a greener future. Thank you Globe for the trust and we are looking forward to more collaborations as we jointly clean up the Philippines – one brick at a time,” said Romel Benig, President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Antz Builders, Inc.
Globe’s SUP-avoidance advocacy has started with its employee education campaign called WASSUP (‘Wag Sa Single-Use Plastic) that tackles the impacts of plastics on the environment, resulting in banning the use of SUPs within its main corporate office.
Employees were encouraged to bring cloth bags and reusable utensils to the office to eliminate plastic bags and plastic spoons, forks, and stirrers.
SUPs are doing more harm than good to the environment, as indicated in a UN Environment Program report on Single-Use Plastics.
The said report detailed that once used, SUPs end up getting recycled, incinerated, landfilled, dumped in uncontrolled sites, or worse, littered in the environment. It is estimated that 79% of plastic waste lies in landfills, dumps, or the environment. In contrast, a measly 12% have been incinerated while just 9% were recycled.
While the Philippines is renowned for being the “center of the world’s marine biodiversity,” it also is notorious for its rampant use of SUPs, with the United Nations and Ocean Conservancy naming the country as the third “Worst Polluter of the World’s Oceans.”
Recognizing numerous threats to the environment, Globe makes environmental protection and conservation part of the company’s mission.
Globe pledged to lessen its carbon footprint by actively supporting the Race To Zero global campaign spearheaded by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and COP26 Presidency and backed by the GSMA, the international mobile industry body. This activity is part of GSMA’s bid to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero no later than 2050 through the collective efforts of all mobile network operators worldwide.
Together with more than 2,700 supporters across 89 jurisdictions, Globe also formally supported the globally-recognized Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) as part of its commitment to mitigating the impact of climate change through a science-based, numbers-backed report.
Globe supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically UN SDG No. 12 which is on achieving economic growth and sustainable development by urgently reducing ecological footprint and UN SDG No. 13, which is to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Globe is committed to upholding the UN Global Compact principles and contributing to 10 UN SDGs.