by Yvonne T. Chua and Avigail M. Olarte
THEY MAY be small and convenient for consumers, but those sachets and pouches that are the current toast of the manufacturing world has become a considerable environmental headache.
Like a lot of plastics, these packaging materials, known as flexibles, laminates, or composite materials consisting of several layers of either the same or different materials (plastic, ink, metal), are recyclable. But making them reusable is more complicated than recycling paper, cartons, metals, glass, and rigid plastics.
by Avigail M. Olarte and Yvonne T. Chua
GEMMA CANDELARIA is a mother of 10 who relies solely on her husband’s earnings as a company driver for the family’s expenses. But just like other wives with shoestring budgets, Candelaria has become an expert on stretching every peso, especially on days when she has only P100 for food. And so since last year, food in the Candelaria household has come in mini-size: 100-gram cans, 20-gram boxes, or 9-ml sachets.