Unilever to help Philippines enterprises combat plastic waste

MANILA, Philippines —  Consumer goods giant Unilever is providing grants to Philippine enterprises that help reduce plastic waste in the country.

In a statement, Unilever said the grants would be awarded through the Catalyzing Inclusive, Resilient and Circular Local Economies or the CIRCLE Alliance, founded by the company with partners such as the US Agency for International Development and Ernst and Young Global Ltd.

It said up to $225,000 per qualified grant may be awarded to winning enterprises.

The CIRCLE Alliance is aiming to award up to two grants per country per year until 2029.

Aside from the Philippines, the CIRCLE Alliance is providing grants to qualified enterprises in other countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia that introduce innovations and improvements on plastic waste collection, processing and recycling practices.

“CIRCLE’s collaborative model of enterprise acceleration – delivered through a mix of grant funding and bespoke business support – will help scale both new and existing solutions for packaging circularity, whether that’s driving collection and recycling, or reuse–refill models,” Rebecca Marmot, Unilever chief sustainability officer and member of the Unilever Leadership Council said.

“Crucially, it will support small to medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs that offer impactful, market-based solutions but are currently too small to work at the scale we need,” she also said.

Aside from its participation in the CIRCLE Alliance, Unilever is actively involved in reducing the use of virgin plastics and developing solutions for hard-to-recycle flexible plastic packaging materials.

In the Philippines, Unilever is engaged in waste collection efforts in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to address plastic pollution.

“The momentum for solutions and collaborations to help fix the plastic waste issue is gaining even more speed. With the CIRCLE Alliance across Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, Unilever is putting its expertise and networks to help build a fair and equitable circular economy for plastics in the Philippines and hopefully across Southeast Asia,” said Rondell Torres, Philippines sustainability lead at Unilever and Circle Alliance lead for Southeast Asia.

Those interested to apply for the CIRCLE Alliance grant can send their application until Oct. 4, of this year, according to Unilever.