Ecopreneurs - Planters Development Bank

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Paper or Plastic
1 ton of bags = 17 trees
20% get recycled
Ingredients: wood, petroleum and coal
Could biodegrade within a month,
but—due to poor landfill design—actually decompose
at about same rate as plastic
Each bag leads to around 12.6 kilos of air pollution
Generates five times as much solid waste as plastic
Because of heft and bulk, requires more fuel getting
trucked to the store
1 ton of bags = 11 barrels of crude oil
1% get recycled
Ingredients: natural gas and petroleum
Decomposes in 5 to 1,000 years
Each bag results in 0.5 kilos of air pollution
40% less energy to manufacture and 91% less energy
to recycle than paper
Up to 3% of the world’s plastic bags end up as freefloating
litter, especially problematic in an archipelagic
country like the Philippines
Manufacturing process produces 50 times
more water pollution than plastic
The answer Neither
Easily washes out to sea, where it clogs
the stomachs of whales and turtles
Skip the in-store moral dilemma and encourage customers to bring their own bags.
Or, offer reusable bags made out of recycled or biodegradable materials at cost,
the proceeds of which will be donated to charity
(adapted from The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook)
Green Entrepreneur Options
“Green” shouldn’t mean “antibusiness”. It means the planet needs a sustainable alternative.
Such alternatives mean new jobs, new companies, and entire new industries—not to mention old industries waiting for reinvention.
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SME COMmunity PHilippines
Back to the Land. There’s a premium market for coffee, fruit,
root crops, honey, vegetables, fish and poultry grown safely and
sustainably. Local restaurants and food processors will appreciate
if you can guarantee quality produce in standard weights and labeled
packaging. Your small farms can also produce compost and
feed for other growers. Or leverage parts of your farm or resort
property to get discounts on real estate taxes by maintaining forest
or wetland preserves.
Salvage, Restoration and Green Buildings. Go into the
building salvage business. As old structures give way to new
ones, local businesses can specialize in “deconstruction”—taking
buildings apart piece by piece for salvage yards. The same crews of
craftsmen can put specialized skills to work restoring or constructing
new, green homes. Landscapers can expand their niche if they
begin looking into design, construction and maintenance of green
roofs for medium and high-rise buildings.