At our Open Day I am pleased to say that Bu Vera Galuh Sugijanto of Danone-AQUA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with us, so that Re>Pal can convert the Danone-AQUA OPP plastic label waste into pallets. Under the MOU, Danone-AQUA will be supplying its AQUA label from Danone’s bottle separation facility also in Pasuruan. Where Re>Pal supplies pallets to Danone, these pallets will carry up to a maximum of 25% Danone-AQUA label waste in them, and where Re>Pal uses this in its general waste stream the concentration will be up to 10%, subject to the reliability and quality of the finished product. Danone-AQUA will further examine the feasibility of using the Re>Pal pallet across its water business in Indonesia.
This partnership is part of the Danone-AQUA #BijakBerplastik pledge that features its commitment in addressing plastic waste challenges in Indonesia through collecting more plastic waste than it produces by 2025. Danone-AQUA is also promoting collaborative efforts to find innovative solutions to Indonesia’s plastic waste problems, thus supporting the Indonesian Government’s aim to reduce 70% of plastic waste in the ocean by 2025. To do that, Danone-AQUA is switching from a linear to a circular economy model, where plastics are kept in the production cycle, away from the environment.
Earlier in the week of the open day, I was fortunate enough to meet Corine Tap, President Director, Danone AQUA Indonesia, and as well as lending her voice to a video on Re>Pal also including some of our other partner-clients, she also provided a formal quotation on our relationship: “The plastic waste problem is not a problem we can tackle alone. That is why we are collaborating with multiple stakeholders including Re>Pal. We have been close to Re>Pal and their business for some years now and we are delighted to say that Re>Pal has recently successfully trialled our AQUA label into the Re>Pal pallets” “We have been pleased with the results and can reuse AQUA labels up to a maximum of 25% into the mixed waste plastic without compromising Re>Pal’s reputation for durability and reliability. Upcycling our waste plastic with a trusted supply chain partner improves the circularity of our waste, which is something we are always looking for. In this collaboration we will look at other areas where Re>Pal’s technology can help us recycle plastics into pallets that we can purchase from Re>Pal across our business units.” This was also kindly echoed by Pak Karyanto Wibowo in his address to our audience when he kindly visited us for the Open Day. Pak Karyanto is the Head of Sustainability for Danone-AQUA
Danone-AQUA is another great name that is working with us and this new relationship follows a pattern of larger multi-nationals looking at other alternative than the timber pallet while also looking at their sustainability goals, and their internal waste streams. I am delighted that our pallets can be a home for their plastic label waste stream; I look forward to working closely with Danone-AQUA in assessing relationships with other divisions for waste pallet types or new products. While the volume of waste will be small in tonnage, and therefore only of a small financial benefit for Re>Pal, it is certainly a lot of labels that we help Danone-AQUA recycle and reinvent!
