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Our Story
Who We Are
Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX) is a non-profit organization that partners with sustainability-conscious businesses around the globe to responsibly offset their plastic footprint, and reduce the flow of plastic waste into our landfills and oceans.
PCX has built a wide ecosystem of collaborators that recover, process and recycle plastic waste, and continuously seeks out the most environmentally sound solutions to plastic waste reduction. PCX supports environmental protection with programs that improve livelihoods.
Issues we’re tackling
Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet
Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet
The oceans give us oxygen, regulate our climate, and are a major source of food and livelihood for billions. The oceans are the very foundation of life on Earth. Yet human activity has left them in a perilous state.
By preventing plastic waste from ending up in our oceans and waterways, we hope to not only reclaim historic waters but promote the protection of all global commons.
Responsible
Waste Management
Responsible Waste Management
Plastic Credit Exchange works to protect nature by partnering with companies who have a commitment to adopting environmentally forward waste management practices.
By commissioning stringent audits on all our operations, we do everything we can to promote the effective reduction and disposal of plastic waste with integrity.
Livelihood Development
Livelihood Development
All our work focuses on ending plastic waste in ways that expand access to employment and livelihood opportunities.
By empowering individuals to participate in sustainable development and the protection of the environment through their work, our hope is to contribute to their well-being and the enjoyment of human rights.
Women Empowerment
Women Empowerment
Through our ‘Aling Tindera’ waste-to-cash program, we provide women with dignified work, all the while building their organizational, leadership, and business management skills.
We support our network of women micro-entrepreneurs by increasing their access to credit, professional training, and market information.
The Plastic Credit Exchange Story
The story of the Plastic Credit Exchange began in the Philippine bottled water space under the brand Hope in a Bottle. HOPE commits 100% of its profit to the building of public school classrooms, in partnership with the Department of Education, and is the Philippines' first B Corp.
Not wanting to help solve one problem in education just to create another in the environment, HOPE embarked on finding a plastic neutral solution for its business. After bumping up against the various challenges confronting the space domestically, we found that taking our plastic footprint from post consumer sources and having environmentally compliant coprocessors use it as alternative fuel was the most practical, sustainable and scalable solution we could find.
Realizing that a small player in a low margin business could afford to be responsible for 100% of its plastic footprint through this process, we decided to share it publicly in case we could help other companies find their own paths to neutrality. The interest was immediate and overwhelming, prompting HOPE to establish an Exchange that would allow any company from anywhere to participate in being environmentally responsible by offsetting their own plastic footprints.
A calling that hits close to home
At PCX, we understand the challenge of plastic waste. The Philippines produces over 2 million metric tons of plastic waste each year - 83% of this plastic is mismanaged, landing in dumps or open, uncontrolled landfills. As concerned citizens, we see this plastic waste impact our waterways, our streets, our environment, and our health. With over 7,107 islands and more than 18,000 km of coastline, we also see this plastic waste end up in our oceans.
According to a 2015 report by ScienceMag.org, the Philippines is the third largest contributor to ocean plastic in the world. As a team, we are passionately committed to reducing plastic for our country and for the world.
Following the success and learnings that allowed Hope in a Bottle to be Plastic Neutral, the Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX) was founded as a non-profit with the vision to replicate the concept of a "carbon credit" for plastic. Our goal is to build a rigorous, ethical, environmentally-sound marketplace that enables companies to purchase certified plastic credits to offset the plastic waste they cannot eliminate from their packaging and the plastic waste they've already put out into the world. This marketplace will be judiciously monitored by a board of trustees with backgrounds in environmental research, management and policy.
Executive Board
Nanette Medved-Po
Founder
Nanette is the Founder and Chairperson of Plastic Credit Exchange, Inc. (PCX), the first global non-profit plastic offset program that has built a community committed to seeking out the most environmentally sound solutions for plastic waste. PCX takes plastic pledges from companies around the world and provides ways to offset those footprints through credible post-consumer plastic removal and processing systems.
She is also the Founder and Chairperson of HOPE. An impact company that invests 100% of profits to improve public school education infrastructure, agriculture interventions for smallholder farmers, and environmental initiatives in both the plastic waste and carbon sequestration spaces. HOPE was awarded the grand prize at Developmental Social Enterprise Awards by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and was recognized globally as the Best New Brand and Best CSR by the Global Bottled Water Awards in Lisbon, Portugal. HOPE became the first Certified B Corporation in the Philippines for meeting the highest standards of social and environmental transparency and accountability.
She serves on the Board of Trustees of the World Wildlife Fund Philippines and on the Board of Directors of Winrock International in Arlington, Virginia. She recently received the NGO Leadership Award and Social Innovation Leadership Award from the Philippines Leadership Awards and was honored as one of Forbes’ Heroes of Philanthropy.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude with degrees in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Babson College in Massachusetts.
Chris McNally
Board Member
Chris is an Expert Partner with McKinsey & Company based in London. He has worked in the petrochemical and plastics industry for over 20 years across Asia, Europe and Africa, supporting companies with investment decisions, growth strategies and transformation. He now leads McKinsey’s work in chemicals sustainability, which focuses on improving sustainability of feedstocks, processes and end of life disposal. He also leads work in downstream oil & gas industry decarbonisation, particularly strategies and technologies for low carbon energy systems. Chris holds MS degrees in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University and in Refining from ENSPM, Paris and has an MBA from the London Business School.
Gideon Agar
Board Member
Vince Perez
Board Member
Vince is CEO of Alternergy, a renewable power company in Asia. He is the Chairman of Merritt Partners, an energy advisory firm and was a Board Trustee of WWF International and Chairman of WWF-Philippines. He founded Next Century Partners, a private equity firm based in Singapore, and the Asian Conservation Company in the Philippines. Vince served as Philippine Minister of Energy and later as Vice Chairman of the National Renewable Energy Board. He has invested in various sustainable energy and eco-tourism ventures, and is a member of the advisory boards of BDO, Coca-Cola Philippines, Pictet Clean Energy Fund, Singapore Telemedia, and the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale University. Vince holds an MBA from the Wharton Business School and obtained a degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines.
Cem Sinirlioglu
Board Member
Cem is a partner at Idea Farm Ventures based in New York, United States.
Maya Chorengal
Board Member
Advisory Board in the Philippines
Cesar Purisima
Advisory Board Member
Cesar was the Secretary of Finance for the Philippines and Chairman of Economic Development during the term of President Benigno Aquino. He graduated in 1979 from De La Salle University with Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, major in Accounting and Management of Financial institutions and subsequently topped the licensure examinations for Certified Public Accountants that same year. He completed his MBA in International Economics, Finance, and Marketing at Northwestern University in 1983.
Jose Angelito M. Palma
Advisory Board Member
Joel holds a BS in Fisheries (Major in Inland Fisheries) Degree from the University of the Philippines. He handled the turtle conservation initiatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources before joining the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)-Philippines as a Project Manager for the Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi. He was a Governance and Environmental Democracy Fellow at Wolverhampton University under the Chevening Scholarship program in 2007 before his appointment as Vice President for Conservation Programs. Joel provided organizational direction and strategic interventions for both national and regional programs, including the Coral Triangle Initiative and the engagement of corporate partners. He designed and implemented the integration and linkage of national and regional programs, as well as the organization’s contribution to the achievement of WWF Global Network’s meta-goals. He now serves as the President and CEO of WWF-Philippines.
DTI Philippines
Advisory Board Member
DTI is a prime mover of consumer welfare. It is committed to protecting the rights and interests of the consumers and is also committed to developing policies and programs aimed at sustaining the growth and development of the Philippine economy. Besides overseeing the effective implementation and enforcement of trade regulation and fair trade laws, the DTI provides protection to consumers through consumer education and information dissemination programs.
Antonio La Viña
Advisory Board Member
Tony is a teacher, thinker, and lawyer. His legal and governance expertise includes climate change, biodiversity, biosafety policy, mining, energy, forestry, indigenous peoples' rights, community based natural resources management, consensus building and negotiations, social accountability, local government, legal philosophy, and public ethics. He is currently Dean of the Ateneo School of Government. Previously he was a Senior Fellow and researcher at the World Resources Institute (WRI). From 1996-1998, he was the Undersecretary for Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines. Tony is also a lead negotiator for the Philippines in the climate change negotiations.
Tony obtained his Masters and Doctorate in Law from Yale Law School, his law degree from the University of the Philippines, and his Philosophy degree from the Ateneo de Manila university. In the 1989 bar examinations, he achieved 3rd place.
Advisory Board in the US
Jennifer Brandon
Advisory Board Member
Jenni received her PhD in Biological Oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in December 2017, focusing on the nascent field of marine microplastics. She is an expert in quantifying and identifying marine microplastics, and has developed multiple novel methods to identify the spatial and temporal ranges of microplastics and determine the age of plastics exposed to varying weathering conditions in the environment. She was the first to find microplastics in our temporal sediment record, and the exponential increase of microplastics she recorded from 1945-2009 closely correlates with the exponential increase in worldwide plastics production over that same time period.
Geraldine Acuña
Advisory Board Member
Geraldine is the president of the Sunshine Care Foundation for Neurological Care and Research (SCF), an international non-profit organization dedicated to finding innovative ways of delivering free clinical and neurological care to indigent patients in rural areas of Asia. For over a decade, Geraldine has also served as Senior Counsel in alternative investments for Bracebridge Capital, a fixed income hedge fund based in Boston with over $13 billion in assets under management. Geraldine graduated with honors from Harvard College, a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School (where she also served as a member of the board and graduated as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar).
Advisory Board in Singapore
David Chandra
Advisory Board Member
David is responsible for the APAC Microsoft Technology Center (MTC). As the Senior Director at the MTC, he along with his team, works closely with key enterprise customers to help them through their Digital Transformation journey by providing tailored engagements from strategy briefings and envisioning workshops through to rapid prototyping. David has extensive background in the Government Industry and has worked on various projects in financial services, telecommunication, and internet commerce. He was the Microsoft technology advisor for the Singapore IRAS next generation taxation platform. In his earlier professional career as a software development consultant, he was one of the key architects and software development lead for the Australian Tax Office – ABN (Australian Business Number) Registration portal for small businesses. He was also involved in architecting and leading the team for the business loan origination system for one of the major banks in Australia.
Michael Gilmore
Advisory Board Member
Michael became Research Director of Albizia Capital in 2014. He also leads the firm's approach to ESG, integral to investment strategy, including being a UN PRI signatory since 2017. Given the firm's investment focus on ASEAN consumer companies, plastic waste plays an important role in its ESG focus: Michael is a member of the UN PRI's International Working Group on Plastics. Michael's first role as a consumer analyst in Asia was in 1997, starting with DBS Securities in Indonesia before moving to UBS in 1999. He became UBS's Head of Asian Consumer Research in 2001 based in Singapore, before joining Nomura Securities in the same role in 2005, and HSBC in 2010. Before finance, Michael pursued post-graduate studies at SOAS, University of London, having graduated from there in 1991 with a BA in Economics and politics, specialising in ASEAN, as well as freelance writing and journalism. In recent years, Michael has combined writing and finance by advocating for greater financial literacy. He has written two books, including "Happy Ever After", published by Wiley, that he wrote for his two teenage daughters.
Core Management Team
Oliver Sicam
Marketing & Strategy Director
Oli has had over 20 years of experience in Brand Marketing, working in local, regional and global roles for the FMCG and QSR industries, with Unilever and Jollibee Foods. He now leads Marketing & Strategy for the HOPE group of impact organizations.
Richard de Guzman
Standards and Compliance Manager
Richard is responsible for leading flagship projects and operations including coordination with various aggregators, materials recovery facilities and processing partners. Richard has a strong background in renewable energy and environmental management. Prior to joining the team, he provided consulting services to the Asian Development Bank on environmental safeguards for water supply and sanitation projects and as a geothermal research and development scientist in Energy Development Corporation, an integrated renewable energy company in the Philippines. He has presented technical papers in international conferences in Australia and Japan. Richard is a chemical engineer by background - graduated magna cum laude from the University of the Philippines - Diliman and has ranked 4th in his November 2011 professional licensure exam.
Selena Ortiga
Marketing & Strategic Comms Manager
Selena is responsible for the development and management for the overall branding of PCX. She spearheads collaboration concepts and coordinates with strategic partners for both HOPE and PCX. She also serves as the team lead for all external corporate public relations, and coordination between external creative agencies as deemed necessary.
Selena graduated with a bachelor’s degree in BS Business Economics at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, and most recently finished her Masters in Business Administration (Leadership and Enterprise) at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Ilusion Farias
Impact Director
Ilusion oversees all the non-profit community programs in her capacity as Managing Director of Friends of Hope, Inc. On top of managing the Education and Agriculture impact areas, she leads the team at the Plastic Credit Exchange building a strong network of women entrepreneurs who will become catalysts for environmental and economic progress in their respective communities. Ilusion has 9 years of experience in different sectors within the nonprofit environment. She worked for over 6 years as Executive Director in Guatemala where she organized and led initiatives with the City Garbage Dump community. During that time, she also founded and developed an NGO that provided sustainable economic and social programs for the women of these communities. Her vast experience has given her a deep understanding of the economic and social impacts of recycling programs for aggregators and specifically, women. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a Master’s in International and Developing Economics from HTW- University of Applied Science in Berlin.
Sophie Kuhlman
Human Resources Manager
Sophie has over 10 years of work experience in Human Resources, with exposure to various industries such as Executive Search, eCommerce, Banking & Finance, Advertising, Education, and Tech.
As our Human Resources & Admin Manager, she plays a critical role in building our team and enabling smooth operations of our organization. Sophie graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Business at De La Salle University - Dasmariñas.
Kia Ferrer
Accounting Officer
Kia is our in-house accountant. She has 5 years experience with exposure to various industries such as Audit, Retail and Non-Profit Organizations.
Kia ensures the company follows the current financial reporting standards as well as compliance to the different governing bodies. Kia is a graduate of Tarlac State University with a degree in Accountancy.
Meg Anne Santos
Sustainability Campaign Manager
Meg is responsible for executing the company’s mission to be the pioneering plastic offset company in the region, if not globally. Her focus area is on developing new business opportunities and industry offset partners through linking them with the Exchange’s integrated platform. Prior to working with PCEx, Meg has worked for Nestle Philippines as Market Environmental Sustainability lead where she spearheaded market strategies on various sustainability initiatives on: zero waste to landfill, shifting to renewable Energy, and environmental compliance. Aside from her background in sustainability, she has also handled various leadership roles in production and operations handling strategic execution of innovation and renovation projects. Meg is a licensed chemical engineer, graduated cum laude from the Mapua Institute of Technology at Laguna.
Giorgino Naval
Operations Manager
Gino started in HOPE by establishing the classroom-building bottled water company's supply chain and procurement functions. He now leads the Operations of HOPE group of impact companies and is responsible for overseeing its supply chain management, manufacturing, procurement, quality, and systems functions. Before joining HOPE, he previously worked at Universal Robina Corporation's strategic and regional supply chain organization and at Magsaysay Shipping and Logistics' logistics solutions business unit. Gino holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering Management from Mapua Institute of Technology.