At the 50th National MILO Marathon, an empty MILO sachet can turn into a table.
The Plastic Flamingo (PLAF), a social enterprise that recycles plastic into construction materials and furniture, has partnered with MILO Philippines to collect used sachets from runners at select legs of the race. The sachets will be recycled into sports equipment such as basketball backboards, table tennis tables, benches, and ball racks for local schools.
All runners have to do is bring clean, empty MILO sachets to The Plastic Flamingo’s collection booth. The first 100 participants who hand in 20 sachets receive a MILO tumbler, and every five sachets earns a 24g pack of MILO malt drink.
PLAF’s booths were planned for the Vermosa and Subic legs in October, and the last scheduled stop is the Clark leg on December 6. So, if you’re running it, start saving your sachets now.
The marathon, which first ran in 1974, is marking its 50th anniversary this year with 15 races nationwide.
Sachets are one of the hardest kinds of plastic to deal with and the Philippines goes through an estimated 163 million multilayer sachets a day despite it being notoriously difficult to recycle.
PLAF was founded in 2018 by French couple François and Charlotte, whose honeymoon cycling from France to Cambodia left them confronting how much plastic waste there is along the way.
Today it runs out of Muntinlupa, with more than 300 collection points and over 1,400 tons of plastic managed so far. The waste is sorted and recycled into eco-boards, which become tables, desks, bins, and school chairs, more than 6,300 of which have been deployed across the Philippines. PLAF also positions itself as a plastic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) partner for companies. They offer programs where companies can sponsor tons of plastic diverted, school chairs, or equipment.
CMA CGM, a global shipping and logistics enterprise, for one, has been partnering with PLAF since 2021. Since then, roughly 1,320 metric tons of waste have been collected and 1,500 school chairs have been donated.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Coca-Cola Philippines, Decathlon, and Beiersdorf are among PLAF’s other partners. Megawide Foundation and Alaska Milk have sponsored school chair programs, and with WWF Philippines it turned over eco-board bins to the Port of Batangas. The MILO tie-up follows the same logic. Collect the packaging where it’s used, then turn it into something a school can use.
A few sachets can mean a world of difference for school children in the country.
If you’re running in Clark, rinse your empty sachets and bring them to the booth. If you’re not, PLAF’s website lists public drop-off points for clean plastic year-round.
