Coca Cola Europacific Aboitiz Philippines (CCEAP), the bottling arm and official distributor of Coca cola products in the country, has partnered with the City Government of Valenzuela to strengthen the city’s PET bottle collection and recycling efforts. The collaboration supports the Tapon to Ipon program, a flagship nationwide initiative by the Coca-Cola system in the Philippines that promotes the collection and recycling of post-consumer PET plastic bottles.
The partnership between CCEAP and the Valenzuela City Government was formalized during a ceremony led by CCEAP Stakeholder Relations Director Atty. Marc Anthony Cox, CCEAP Stakeholder Relations Senior Manager Atty. Dianne Patawaran, with Valenzuela City Mayor Wes Gatchalian, Mayoress Tiffany Gatchalian, CENRO Officer-in-Charge Rachel Torres, and Barangay Ugong Captain PB Maricel Pineda-Emperador in attendance, along with representatives from Valenzuela City District 1 and District 2, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), and the Barangay Ugong Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), and PETValue Philippines.
“Our mission is to make Valenzuela City not just an industrial city, but also a livable city. Achieving this means cleanliness and effective waste management remain our top priorities,” said Mayor Wes Gatchalian. “Institutionalizing our PET collection and recycling efforts in partnership with CCEAP is an important step toward strengthening our recycling infrastructure and improving how we sort, recover, and transport collected materials. We thank CCEAP for its support and look forward to working closely with our CENRO and MRF partners to expand our recovery initiatives and advance a more circular approach to resource management across the city,” Gatchalian added.
As part of the partnership, CCEAP provided a baling machine to the Barangay Ugong Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), which became operational earlier this year. The equipment enhances the facility’s capacity to sort, consolidate, bale, and store PET bottles and other recyclable materials, improving the efficiency of collection and recovery operations.
“This partnership reflects our shared commitment to creating long-term solutions for the communities we serve. We are grateful to work with local government partners like the City Government of Valenzuela, under the leadership of Mayor Wes Gatchalian, who recognize the value and circularity of PET bottles. Together, we can create a positive impact by keeping more valuable resources in circulation and strengthening local recovery systems, and we look forward to many more years of working with Valenzuela City,” said Atty. Marc Anthony Cox, CCEAP Stakeholder Relations Director.
Collected clear PET bottles will be diverted to PETValue Philippines, the country’s pioneering bottle-to-bottle recycling facility. PETValue Philippines is a joint venture between CCEAP and Indorama Ventures, a global sustainable chemical company. In this state-of-the-art facility, recovered materials are converted into food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), supporting a circular lifecycle for PET packaging.
Through continued collaboration with government, industry stakeholders, and community partners, CCEAP continues to scale up its collection initiatives and make recycling more accessible across the Philippines.