ENEOS Philippines Corporation (ENEPH), the local office of Japan’s No. 1 oil company ENEOS Motor Oil, has partnered with The Plastic Flamingo Corporation (The Plaf) as part of its commitment to sustainability and in support of the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022 (EPRA). 

The Plaf is a social enterprise based in the Philippines that collects and transforms plastic waste into a range of construction materials.

EPRA requires large enterprises to recover a percentage of their plastic waste every year beginning with 20 percent of their plastic footprint the year before by Dec. 31, 2023. 

The percentage increases in increments of 10 after each year until it reaches the maximum 80 percent in 2028 and every year thereafter.

The Plaf provides ENEPH with two solutions to ensure it meets the waste reduction targets, the first of which is through an offsetting program wherein The Plaf will attribute some of the plastic wastes it collects from the market to ENEPH by way of compensation. 

The other solution is for The Plaf to collect used plastic containers from participating ENEPH dealers and recycle them into eco-boards that can be used to build furniture, shelters and even new schools. 

ENEPH has currently assigned three of its dealers as collection points, namely Delta Autostrasse Corporation in Antipolo, Red T Trading in Laguna and Arnold08 Auto Repair Shop in Marikina City.

“We are happy to report that we are on-track to meet this years’ target of 20 percent as mandated by EPRA,” said ENEPH President Kazumasa Imai in a statement. 

He noted that, “the Philippines is one of our strategic target countries for our lubricants business as we see a lot of potential for growth given the large potential market, the country’s positive economic outlook, and the good reputation of Japanese brands among Filipinos."

“And even as we project our sales to increase in the coming years, we are confident that through our partnership with The Plaf we will be able to meet the EPRA targets and do our share to promote a sustainable future,” he added.

ENEPH began business operations in October 2019 and is slowly making its mark in the field of motorcycle and automotive lubricants. 

In the future, ENEPH has plans of bringing in more products such as Continuously Variable Transmission Fluids and Automatic Transmission Fluids for passenger cars, Diesel Engine Oil products for truck and bus fleet customers, Hydraulic and Compressor Oils for industrial use and even Lubricants for Electric Vehicles. 

Once target volumes are reached, there are also plans to set up a blending factory in the country.