Aboitiz firms find new value in plastic once treated as waste

PETValue and Republic Cement team up to turn bottle caps, labels and other non-recyclable plastics into alternative fuel instead of landfill waste.

The Aboitiz Group-affiliated PETValue Philippines and Republic Cement & Building Materials Inc. are putting more plastic to productive use instead of letting it become a disposal expense, offering another example of how companies are turning waste into a resource while reducing dependence on landfills.

The two companies have launched a “Zero Waste to Landfill” partnership that expands the commercial use of plastic beyond conventional recycling. PETValue already converts used PET bottles into food-grade recycled resin for new beverage packaging at its Cavite facility. Now, bottle caps, labels and other plastic components that cannot be recycled will be recovered by Republic Cement’s ecoloop unit and co-processed as alternative fuel for cement manufacturing rather than ending up in landfills.

The collaboration shows how manufacturers are finding new economic value in materials once treated as waste, allowing more of every plastic bottle to remain in circulation instead of being discarded. As more companies build connected recovery systems, waste disposal can increasingly become a source of raw materials and energy for other industries rather than a cost at the end of the production process.

Republic Cement said its co-processing technology has already diverted more than 1.5 million tons of residual plastic waste from landfills, with the new partnership expected to recover even more plastic that would otherwise be thrown away.

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