Evergreen Labs

19/06/2026

Evergreen Labs Philippines is proud to support the ongoing “Trash to Bigas” Program, where community members can exchange plastic waste and recyclable materials for rice while helping keep their barangay clean.

Through this initiative, collected plastics are sent to Evergreen Labs Philippines for recycling and upcycling into useful products such as chairs, tables, boards, and bricks — showing how community waste can be transformed into practical materials with real value.

We are grateful for the leadership and support of Kap. Medi Alcantara, the Committee on Environment led by Kagawad Marisa Reyes, and the Environment Team led by Ms. Cindy Honrade, who continue to support collection, cleaning, segregation, and coordination at the MRF.

Programs like this show the power of community participation in building local circular economy systems. When residents, barangay leaders, and implementation partners work together, plastic waste can become more than a disposal challenge — it can become a resource for the community.

A gentle reminder to participants: whenever possible, please rinse or clean plastic materials before bringing them in. This helps make the sorting and recycling process easier for the volunteers, staff, and recycling partners.

16/06/2026

World Refill Day — worth a note on what we've learned building Glassia.

Refill only works when it's easier than the alternative. That sounds obvious, and it's the part most refill programs underestimate. The visible side is bottles and branding. The side that actually determines whether it works is the logistics underneath — collection routes, wash infrastructure, partner onboarding, quality control, the reverse supply chain that has to run as reliably as the forward one.

Get that right and refill becomes a default. Get it wrong and it stays a novelty.

We're still building. But the pattern is clear: refill isn't a product decision, it's an infrastructure decision. That's where the work is.

Thanks to every cafe, restaurant, business and household across Vietnam making it part of how they operate.

15/06/2026

What does a circular economy actually look like on the ground?

Not in a diagram.

Not in a strategy deck.

But in real communities, with real people, building systems that work.

This documentary by ReForm Plastic follows the journey of plastic through communities across the Philippines — from informal recovery networks and barter systems to decentralized production facilities and rescue boats built from recycled plastic boards.

What emerges is something much bigger than waste management alone:
a story about livelihoods, resilience, local ownership, and the complexity behind building circular systems in reality.

At Evergreen Labs, this is what we care deeply about — creating models that are not only environmentally impactful, but operationally viable and community-driven.

A huge thank you to everyone who shared their work, stories, and time to make this documentary possible 💚

🎥 Watch the full documentary here:
https://youtu.be/d3xAqeVgSvk

What does a circular economy actually look like on the ground?Not...

12/06/2026

Field update from the Philippines 🇵🇭

A couple weeks ago, the Evergreen Labs Philippines team joined the Plastic Collection and Palit-Goods Program in collaboration with PBSP - Philippine Business for Social Progress in Barangays 179 and 187.

Through the exchange activity, the communities collected a total of 105 kg of PET bottles, along with several bags of flexible plastics.

Both barangays responded positively to the initiative and shared that they are actively looking for more sustainable ways to manage plastic waste within their communities. The activity also opened encouraging conversations with the barangay captains, who expressed interest in exploring future collaboration with Evergreen Labs Philippines.

We are now working on draft MOAs with both barangays to assess how we can support longer-term plastic waste recovery and community-based circular economy efforts.

What stood out most was the willingness of the communities to participate, contribute, and be part of practical waste management solutions.

Small collection activities like this can become the starting point for stronger local systems — when communities, local leaders, and implementation partners work together.

10/06/2026

We’re proud to see Glassia, one of Evergreen Labs’ circular ventures, featured in two newly released regional reports on reuse and refill systems in Southeast Asia.

The first, *Scaling reuse systems through behaviour change: Insights from Southeast Asia*, published by GIZ, explores how reuse systems can become part of everyday routines when they are convenient, trustworthy, affordable, and supported by the right infrastructure.

The second, *Reuse Realized: Unleashing Solutions in the ASEAN Region*, by Perpetual and developed as part of the SEA circular project implemented by UNEP and COBSEA, looks at the opportunities, barriers, and enabling conditions needed to scale reuse and refill models across the region.

For us, both reports reinforce something we experience every day through Glassia:

Reuse is not simply about replacing single-use packaging with reusable packaging.

It requires systems.

Collection and return logistics.
Washing and quality control.
Operational reliability.
Customer behaviour change.
Policy support.
Business model design.
Long-term collaboration across sectors.

Through Glassia, Evergreen Labs has been building and operating one of these systems in Vietnam — replacing single-use bottled water with purified water in reusable glass bottles for hospitality, offices, restaurants, and businesses.

We’re grateful to have contributed practical insights from this work and encouraged to see reuse gaining stronger regional attention as a critical pathway for reducing plastic pollution in Southeast Asia.

Reports like these are important because they help move the conversation beyond awareness and into implementation: what infrastructure is needed, what barriers must be addressed, and how circular systems can be designed to work in real markets.

A big thank you to GIZ, Perpetual, UNEP, COBSEA, and all contributors working to advance reuse across the region.

📘 GIZ report: Scaling reuse systems through behaviour change:https://www.giz.de/sites/default/files/media/pkb-document/2026-05/giz2026-en-reuse-systems-and-behaviour-change.pdf
📘 Perpetual report: Reuse Realized: Unleashing Solutions in the ASEAN Region: https://www.perpetualuse.org/reuse-realized

08/06/2026

Most conversations about ocean plastic start at the beach. Ours start further upstream — in the aquaculture ponds of the Mekong Delta, where thousands of tonnes of plastic pond liners reach end-of-life every year with nowhere legitimate to go.

For the past few years we've been building a recovery route for that material, working with farmers in Can Tho and Soc Trang to collect, aggregate, and process pond liners into something usable again. It's unglamorous work: mapping who has what, when, and in what condition. Setting up the logistics to move it. Finding the processing pathways that turn a waste stream into a feedstock.

It's also the work that keeps plastic out of the water in the first place.

A lot of what gets called "ocean plastic" is really a land-based infrastructure problem — material that never had a route once it stopped being useful. Build the route, and the problem shrinks upstream of the beach.

05/06/2026

What does the circular economy actually look like on the ground?

Not diagrams.
Not buzzwords.
People.
Communities collecting plastic where waste systems never reached.
Informal workers building livelihoods through recovery.
Local franchise partners turning hard-to-manage waste into new products.
And rescue boats — built from recycled plastic — returning to the water to recover even more.

This is what circular systems can look like when they are built locally, inclusively, and designed to work in the real world.

Thank you to everyone who opened their communities, work, and stories to us.

Watch the full documentary at the link in bio.

05/06/2026

World Environment Day lands differently when you spend most days on the ground with the people actually moving material — the collectors, the franchisees, the processing teams. The day itself matters less than what happens the other 364.

To everyone we work alongside across Southeast Asia & beyond: thank you for the work that doesn't make the calendar.

03/06/2026

At Evergreen Labs, impact starts with practical knowledge, real farmer engagement, and solutions that can be applied on the ground.

Through HealthyFarm’s recent online training program, we supported farmers across Vietnam in better understanding the transition toward cage-free and higher-welfare laying hen systems. Across three interactive sessions, participants explored the values and challenges of cage-free farming, housing and equipment upgrades, Certified Humane requirements, flock management, disease prevention, biosecurity, and the economic realities of transitioning to more humane production models.

The response showed just how relevant this work is. The program received 60 total registrations, with strong attendance across all three sessions and farmers joining from Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam. Participating poultry operations represented approximately 164,000 hens, creating a meaningful opportunity to influence animal welfare practices at both smallholder and commercial farm levels.

What stood out most was the level of engagement. Farmers arrived early to network, stayed late for Q&A, and raised practical questions about feed costs, labor, Salmonella and E. coli prevention, nesting and perching design, floor egg management, certification costs, and market access. This confirmed that the transition to cage-free farming is not only a technical issue, but also a business, infrastructure, and knowledge challenge.

The post-training feedback was encouraging: 80% of farming respondents rated the training as either “Extremely helpful” or “Very useful,” and participants reported a strong increase in understanding of cage-free farming and laying hen welfare.

For HealthyFarm, this is more than a training program. It is part of building a stronger community of practice for humane farming in Vietnam — one that connects farmers, experts, buyers, and support organizations around practical, scalable pathways for better animal welfare.

A big congratulations to the HealthyFarm team for delivering this important work and continuing to support farmers in making higher-welfare systems more accessible, realistic, and impactful.

03/06/2026

What does a more humane food system look like in practice?

Through HealthyFarm, Evergreen Labs recently supported an online training program helping farmers across Vietnam better understand the transition toward cage-free and higher-welfare laying hen systems.

Across three interactive sessions, farmers explored practical topics including cage-free housing, Certified Humane requirements, flock health, disease prevention, biosecurity, farm economics, and animal welfare.

The response showed the need for this work:
✔ 60 total registrations
✔ Farmers joined from Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam
✔ Participating poultry operations represented around 164,000 hens
✔ 80% of farming respondents rated the training as “Extremely helpful” or “Very useful”
✔ Participants reported an average knowledge increase of 4.4/5

This is how systems change begins: with practical knowledge, farmer engagement, and support that helps higher-welfare models become more realistic, accessible, and scalable.

Congratulations to the HealthyFarm team for continuing to build pathways toward better farming systems in Vietnam.