PET recycling campaign at popular Philippine festival
The city administration of Bacolod City recently conducted a pilot PET waste collection campaign at the MassKara festival, where it collected 445,455 PET bottles from 11 to 27 October.
Through the campaign, which was a collaboration between the Bureau of Environment and Natural Resources (BENRO), Coca-Cola Philippines, Bacolod Yuhum Foundation Inc. and Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies Inc., over 8 tonnes of PET were recovered and returned to the circular economy.
In a statement, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the city government wants to ensure that all Bacolodians and festivalgoers understand the importance of proper waste disposal and environmental stewardship. BENRO head Maria Fe Trespuentes said that this was the first time the initiative was implemented by the city government as part of the MassKara festival. It was also the first time that a local government unit had managed to collect all the PET plastic bottles used during a festival.
During the campaign, 169 bins were distributed in the city wherePET bottles were disposed of with the support of 108 concessionaires.
Informal settlers and street sweepers in 21 villages participated in the PET bottle collection as well.
