A plastic-free future really starts with us — in our homes, in our place of work, and wherever we conduct business like stores and factories. We have already read about plastic leaching into our groundwater, and we hope for plastic-free fi sh and food, in general. What we have not processed in our minds is that paper may not be the only solution to switching from plastics.
We learned during a recent webinar organized by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) Environment Committee, that even paper is not as easily recycled as we thought it to be. We had a good speaker in Crispian Lao, President of the Philippine Alliance for Recycling & Material Sustainability and Vice-Chair of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, about misconceptions related to recycling. I was so surprised to know that food boxes soiled with grease can no longer be recycled or fed to recycling mills.
Instead, they end up in land fi lls along with unsorted trash. I also learned that paper cups used for takeout beverages are in the same situation. They cannot be recycled.
Think about all the paper cups we use in cafes and take out delivery orders! Mr. Lao further shared that plastic cups are easily recycled as are biodegradable plastic shopping bags (though I am all for using paper bags because they so easily degrade and are taken by recyclers to make them into recycled paper). The speaker agreed we need to mount an information campaign for consumer awareness on what is recyclable and.