Century Pacific Food Inc. and Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, two listed companies owned by the Po family, have achieved their goals of being plastic-neutral after converting 100 percent of their plastics into energy.
Century said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday the two companies which are under Po-led Century Pacifc Group marked their first year of being “100 percent plastic-neutral” in January this year.
Being “plastic-neutral” means a company is able to recover the amount of plastic equal to what it uses and converts it into energy.
In 2019, both Century and Shakey’s, along with Republic Cement, a leading cement corporation, and in cooperation with Friends of Hope, an impact company, agreed to co-process post-consumer plastic waste, converting it to energy. The recycling aims to minimize the environmental footprint of both top consumer companies
The energy serves as an alternative fuel in producing cement, replacing coal.
“Consumer companies face significant cost and performance challenges in finding more sustainable alternatives to plastic. While co-processing is not the perfect solution, it can mitigate the environmental impact of plastic usage,” said CPG president Christopher Po.
Co-processing uses heat to destroy and recover any thermal or mineral properties of waste materials so that these can be used in cement processing in a single, combined operation.
At a high temperature of 1,450°C, co-processed waste leaves zero residue.
Republic Cement is licensed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to use and dispose of qualified waste streams through cement kiln co-processing.
“With more Filipino companies embracing the plastic-neutrality concept, we are confident that we are making strides for a greener, stronger Republic. Ultimately, this is about preserving the environment for Filipinos for generations to come,” said Republic Cement president Nabil Francis.
Century, one of the Philippines’ leading food companies, is the company behind household names Century Tuna, Argentina, 555 and Birch Tree.
Shakey’s, meanwhile, operates Shakey’s Pizza, the country’s leading pizza and full-service restaurant.