Living green and turning trash into gold

MANILA, Philippines - The adage “one man’s garbage is another man’s gold” is happening, quite literally, in the tropical paradise of Cebu.

For Pete and Cathy Delantar, who founded Nature’s Legacy Eximport Inc.  in 1996, what others consider trash can be recycled or upcycled – a term that means creative reuse – into beautiful home décor, accessories and furniture. Thanks to their proprietary binder formula, they’ve turned dead bark, twigs and other forest debris into elegant home décor, furniture and accessories, which they export to over 41 countries. Using the same eco-saving methods, they even launched Floreia, a fashion jewelry line that is now exported to over 28 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, United Arab Emirates and Japan.

It all began when the Delantars were looking for products and solutions to include in their decoration and garden design market. “We wanted to simulate natural looking stone using minimal materials,” shares Pete. The result was Stonecast, a lightweight material handmade from natural crushed stone. This material is then dry-stamped into molds of different sized pots and vases, similar to how the earth makes limestone, while ensuring its durability. The resulting elegant and high quality products really enhance indoor and outdoor space designs, and thus are sought-after both here and abroad.

Their innovations didn’t stop there. When they cleared up the space where their factory now stands in Compostela, Cebu, Cathy didn’t want to burn up the dried leaves, twigs and other debris. Instead, they researched and turned it into Naturescast, their patented, award-winning lightweight material that can be shaped or sculpted into customizable, multi-textured and genuinely sustainable products such as chairs, vases, wall art and other home furnishings. Many of their furniture designs can be seen in top hotels and celebrity homes around the world.

Naturescast also caught the attention of the Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC), a US-based non-profit balanced coalition of industry players created to promote sustainable practices among manufacturers, retailers and consumers. They soon invited Pete to be a founding member; he would also be the first and only Filipino ever invited by the SFC.

Since then they have also invented Nucast, a sturdy material made from recycled paper, which has no volatile organic compounds. Their newest innovation is the G-SKIN, an interior wall material made to look like bamboo, leather or cement.

“My invention is so simple but yet very practical. I wish every Filipino will be encouraged to invent something even out of nothing… from things we take for granted or consider as scrap, castaway or of no value,” says Pete. “We must keep looking, keep experimenting.”

This year 2015 marks another milestone for the Cebuano inventor and Nature’s Legacy. They literally turned “trash into gold” – besting over 800 top inventors and participants from all over the world, Pete Delantar (representing the Philippines) won the 2015 Gold Invention Award at the 43rd International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, Switzerland, the first and only Filipino to receive this prestigious award.

“This award means a lot to us, and especially to the Philippines. We were the only Filipino entry,” he relates. “It tells the rest of the world that the Philippines still has innovations and inventions, otherwise they will just forget about us.”

Officially called Molded Particle Product with Cast Paper-Based Reinforcement, the winning invention is a “high breed” version of Naturescast.

“Being the only Filipino representative, we are proud to have won it for our country. It is a milestone for our company as well, confirming that what we have created is indeed noble and original,” he adds.

Passing on the passion for nature

So what’s next for the innovative couple? Teaching the next generation how to succeed in business while responsibly sustaining the environment.

Pete and Cathy’s children are all involved, in different aspects and in their own ways, in either the family business or in saving the environment. “From the age of about 8 years old and onwards, we would bring our children during weekends to our factory, so they could understand and see what we were doing, what we were working hard for in order to feed ourselves and the people who work for and with us,” recounts Pete.

“We wanted them to see for themselves how we are saving the environment, recycling or upcycling what others consider as waste materials, utilizing time and transportation by carpooling – those little things that they learned everyday became part of their daily life. To the point that at one time, one of our sons decided to recycle his pants and shoes for the next school year, because it wasn’t too short yet. It has become a lifestyle,” Pete shares with a laugh.

The Delantar family’s lifestyle extends also to their company’s employees and their families. Not only does Nature’s Legacy adhere to high ethical standards and best manufacturing practices that sustain the environment, they also strive for less carbon footprint by providing affordable housing to their employees, proving their commitment to the total human development of their workforce.

The company also reaches out to communities within their vicinity through the Nature’s Legacy Foundation, which became a recipient of the Child Friendly Award from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. in coordination with the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the International Labor Organization.

Through the foundation, they are able to give back to the community and spread the message about responsible living and caring for the environment.

In a country rich with natural resources that need to be protected for future generations, Pete believes that now is the best time for government and corporations to work together to take concrete steps toward sustainable development.

“Can you imagine how much the government is spending just to clean our canals and waterways? Or collecting garbage that isn’t even segregated? Going green is really a mindset. If we want to sustain our environment, we must do our share. We can start small – like segregating trash, and then adding more value later on, like eliminating something that isn’t good for our environment,” says Pete.

“Giving incentive for Philippine companies to ‘go green’ is good, but it should also go hand in hand with educating people how to do it, immersing them and helping them understand and feel that they are part of the Earth that we need to save,” Pete explains.

And with their recent Gold Award as proof, Filipinos can indeed lead the way towards a more sustainable global community and a greener Earth.

For more information, visit www.natureslegacy.com.