Plastic Bank Seeks More Philippine Partners to Scale Plastic Waste Collection

Plastic Bank, the Canadian social enterprise behind one of the world’s largest bottle collection networks, is courting more Philippine companies to join its plastic waste collection drive, pitching the partnership as a practical route for firms to meet their extended producer responsibility targets. Founder and chief executive David Katz made the appeal to reporters on the sidelines of a European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) forum in Manila on 7 October 2026, reported BusinessWorld.

Two billion bottles — and counting

According to figures cited by BusinessWorld, Plastic Bank has recovered two billion plastic bottles in the Philippines alone, equivalent to 45 million kilograms of plastic, as of August 2026. The bottles are collected through a deposit programme in which people exchange used plastic for money and access to social benefits, and every bottle is tracked on a blockchain-secured platform before being recycled into the circular economy.

“We continue to invest and create the opportunity to invite more Filipino companies to participate,” Katz told reporters at the ECCP forum.

How the collection model works

Plastic Bank describes itself as a social fintech: collection branches pay people for the plastic they bring in, and the material is converted into recycled feedstock for new products. Independent reporting on the organisation notes that its networks compensate tens of thousands of collectors across its operating countries and that it has partnered with more than 200 companies worldwide on circular packaging.

In the Philippines, its local partners include Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc., CDO Foodsphere, Inc., Pacific Synergy Food and Beverage Corp., S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., as well as food and beverage companies such as Wendy’s Philippines, Conti’s Bakeshop and Restaurant and Goldilocks Bakeshop Philippines.

Extended producer responsibility in focus

The centrepiece of Katz’s pitch is extended producer responsibility — the principle that companies putting packaged goods on the market should help fund and organise the collection of the waste those products become. By joining Plastic Bank’s network, firms can document verified collection volumes against their responsibility targets.

Dawn F. Cabigon, who heads the ECCP’s international trade fairs division, said the bottle collection programme aligns with the chamber’s push to promote circular economy practices in the Philippines. “We cannot solve waste in the current system that we have. It has to be in a green economy… and it needs new systems, technologies, solutions, as well as a mindset change,” she said.

EU backs the Philippines’ green transition

Cabigon also pointed to the EU–Philippines Green Economy Partnership, a 60 million-euro grant from the European Union to the Philippine government to support the country’s transition to a green economy — the policy backdrop against which collection schemes like Plastic Bank’s are scaling up.

Why it matters for the climate

Plastic waste is a climate issue as well as a pollution crisis: every bottle kept in circulation is one that does not end up in a landfill or waterway, and verified collection reduces demand for new virgin plastic. Deposit-and-trace models like Plastic Bank’s show how waste policy, corporate responsibility rules and community livelihoods can pull in the same direction.

For more climate news from Watan News, follow our ongoing coverage of zero waste and the circular economy.