In the past few years, the public has been introduced to several ways to save the planet from waste and pollution.
One tried and true practice anyone can start doing is shifting to eco-friendly shopping—and this doesn’t just mean bringing reusable shopping bags to the grocery.
Experts say it starts with what you buy. What a person puts in their grocery cart matters and where it came from matters just as much.
It’s much more ideal to choose products with packaging that produce less waste, can be recycled, and took less energy and resource to make or re-use.
Groceries in glass packaging could be number one on the list because glass is 100 percent recyclable and can be reused over and over endlessly without compromising its quality. Another great thing about glass is when it’s recycled, it doesn’t cost manufacturers much resources or energy to re-use it, all they have to do is wash and reload and they’re good to go.
Sharing glass packaging’s endlessly recyclable quality is aluminum cans, hailed as the most sustainable beverage container and valuable package even when thrown away. Apart from also being 100 percent recyclable, the lightweight aluminum packaging, usually used for sodas, is easy to stack and transport, limiting overall transportation carbon emissions.
Apart from these, products in recycled carton packaging and high-value plastic are great choices, too. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is a good, highly recyclable type of plastic prized for its strength, stability even when heated, and transparency. PETs can be recycled back into its bottle form and can be upcycled into furniture and even wall.
To double down on PET’s high value, manufacturers like Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. (PCPPI) have started “lightweighting” their PET bottles, which diverts solid waste from ending up in landfills by using less material to make each bottle. This results in “lighter” PETs that feel thinner yet still sturdy, not compromising the quality of the product it houses.
To date, Pepsi’s local bottling firm has reduced plastic resin in its packaging by 863.4 metric tons.
PCPPI reported that it has effectively lightweighted its other packaging materials for beverages like glass—available at sari-sari stores and carinderias—and carton, effectively reducing material for glass by 6,467.5 MT and carton by 921.35 MT which make them doubly environmentally friendly.
Another criteria one can use to choose products is knowing where they were made.
Local businesses utilize resources within their reach from sourcing to manufacturing and production. Aside from benefitting local farmers and workers, businesses close to one’s neighborhood will produce less carbon emissions when it comes to transporting their goods. Less trips, mean less fuel consumption and less carbon emissions.
PCPPI is also contributing to this cause by getting the most done in deliveries by getting bigger trucks that use less fuel to transport more products to any partner outlet and sari-sari store close to any of its 13 plants nationwide.