Material Flow Analysis of Sachets in an Upcycling System: A Study on the Production Material Efficiency of a Corporation

The Master in Environmental Management Program of the Department of Environmental Science invites all the members of the Loyola Schools community to the Capstone Project Defense of Ms. Kirstie Mae B. Angeles (MEM candidate) on April 20, 2022 at 10:00 in the morning (online).

Ms. Angeles’ capstone project entitled, “Material Flow Analysis of Sachets in an Upcycling System: A Study on the Production Material Efficiency of a Corporation" will be presented to Ms. Sophia Angeli S.N. Dayrit and Ms. Monique Ann A. Tiongco. Her advisers are Ms. Abigail Marie T. Favis and Ms. Kristine Mae C. Gotera.

Abstract

Being a country that depends on sachets for daily essential needs, the Philippines faces increased plastic waste generation with its growing population. Currently, recycling multilayered plastics is not yet commercialized in the country. There are however some industries that have begun to increase their recycling capacity with innovative technology that allows them to recycle sachets. Even with the ability to process sachets, consumer preference for new plastics corresponds to a low demand for recycled products, which challenges the corporation involved in this study. The low demand causes a disruption in the flow of sachets in their upcycling system. This study made use of material flow analysis to identify where these disruptions occur in their system. With this, the researcher was able to measure the efficiency of the sachet upcycling system using a set of indicators. The study concluded that 2021 performed the best in terms of production material efficiency, followed by 2020 and 2019. Since 2021 had the most sachet content in upcycled sachet products, it had the least disruptions in material flow from storage to production. 2021 also had the least quantity of usable materials generated from production that underwent reprocessing further proving its efficiency since more of its upcycling efforts went to the actual production of goods rather than to reprocessing of materials. The overall efficiency of the upcycling system was greatly affected by the accumulation of sachet in storage facilities since these were not utilized for production due to the low demand for products.

Keywords: Sachets, Upcycling, Material flow analysis, Production material efficiency

For those who wish to join the oral presentation and defense, kindly get in touch with Ms. Abigail Marie T. Favis at afavis@ateneo.edu for the official Zoom link.

Thank you.