PetStar México, the largest PET food grade recycling plant in the world, signed a document indicating that they endorse the Earth Charter. This endorsement is the result of encouragement from the Ministry of Environment and the Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and the network of representatives from the Earth Charter.(See more information in Boletín PetStar Diciembre 2014–available only in Spanish.)
In 2003 PetStar was named the world’s largest PET food grade recycling plant (PCI PET Packaging Resin and Recycling, Ltd.), with the capacity to recycle 3,100 million bottles a year into 50,000 tons of food grade recycled PET. PET is the abbreviation for polyethylene terephthalate, a type of plastic used for making bottles that can be recycled, which reduces the amount of waste that goes into landfills.
PetStar’s endorsement includes the following:
1. To disseminate the Earth Charter among individuals, organizations, suppliers and all stakeholders of the company.
2. To promote the educational use of the Earth Charter in schools, universities, and within a variety of settings and contexts, as well as with visitors to the Museum Auditorium located on the PetStar premises.
3. To promote and support the use and implementation of the Earth Charter, including in the areas of civil society, academia, the business sector, and governments.
To further their commitment to their endorsement, PetStar executives requested that the Earth Charter Secretariat provide custom training to their employees, which was provided by ECI board member, Mateo Castillo Ceja. The feedback received from this training exercise was very positive, especially from Monica Salinas, the communications manager, who observed that the employees seemed highly motivated by what they learned and experienced.
The training took place at PetStar’s premises PetStar on April 10-11, 2016. Thirty eight staff members participants, including directors and managers from various plants as well as a few guests from other companies.
As a result of this endorsement and training, the Earth Charter is now incorporated into the philosophical framework of the values used by this company in various aspects of management and decisionmaking. As part of their ongoing commitment to their endorsement, , in 2016 PetStar plans to introduce the Earth Charter to at least 50% of the visitors to the company’s Museum Auditorium and to 100% of its employees.