Goodbye face shields, welcome eco-bricks.
Quickly after President Rodrigo Duterte and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) lifted the mandatory use of face shields, many have expressed over worry over them turning into useless and hazardous plastic waste.
Labeled by netizens as an “icon of corruption” during the pandemic, for being ineffective and overpriced, face shields are now voluntary in areas under Alert Levels 3, 2, and 1.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, in a Nov. 15 memorandum, said face shields would only be required in areas under Alert Level 5 or under granular lockdown.
While areas under Alert Level 4, local government units (LGUs) and private establishments have the discretion to require face shield use.
Since early this year, many Filipinos have questioned the effectiveness of face shields against the spread of Covid-19 as the country remained the only nation to require its use.
Now that face shields are no longer mandatory in Metro Manila, some recycling companies are telling the public to give their plastic waste to them instead.
For one, The Plastic Flamingo or The Plaf is accepting post-consumer plastics such as PET bottles, PVC, online shopping plastics, and plastic utensils as long as they are cleaned, washed, and dried.
The project is a French social enterprise that started in August 2018 to upcycle and recycle plastic waste before it reaches the ocean.
In September 2021, the group collected a total of 111 tons of plastic waste.
From nine kilos of plastics, The Plaf can create a 2-meter eco-plank to be used in the construction of houses, buildings, and more.
They also create posts and coasters but plan to produce reinforced posts, batten, and cladding in the future.
While they have set up a number of drop-off points across the metro, The Plaf is currently running a booth at Ayala Malls Market Market BGC starting today, November 17 to 21 where anyone can drop off their clean plastic waste our purchase their products.
Tags: #theplaf, #recycling, #environment, #faceshields