Philippine government urges cement producers to use plastic waste

To help reduce the country’s solid waste generation by at least 40 per cent Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has requested cement producers to explore ways to use plastic waste as a raw material, reports The Manila Times.

"When all these cement plants will participate, we can dramatically reduce the volume of plastic waste which will be now regarded as raw materials of the cement plants in their current processing," said DENR-EMB Director William Cuñado, citing that several cement firms in the country have already adopted the conversion of plastic waste into energy.

Meanwhile, DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Panning, and International Affairs and spokesperson, Jonas Leones, also said that campaign materials made out of plastics used for the May 2022 elections can be recycled by cement plants.

"Plastic tarpaulins are also used in co-processing, in energy. These are mixed into cement as fillers; sometimes these are used to create pots," Mr Leones said. "Plastic tarpaulins are melted to have some other products out of these plastics," he added