Insider Spotlight
Through the “Color with STABILO. Provide Chairs for Students” campaign, STABILO is collaborating with recycling company The Plastic Flamingo, retailer National Book Store and Pandayan Bookshop to connect purchases of selected colored pencil sets with classroom furniture donations.
Upscaling of waste products
The initiative addresses two challenges at once—plastic waste that could otherwise end up in landfills or waterways and shortages of durable classroom furniture in public schools.
“Twenty kilos of plastic waste—that’s what it takes to make one chair,” STABILO Philippines shared.
The Plastic Flamingo processes locally collected plastic waste and upcycles it into material used to manufacture the chairs. The finished furniture is made from 100 percent recycled plastic and is designed to be waterproof and termite-free.
Circular economy initiative
For every 280 participating STABILO colored pencil sets sold, one recycled plastic school chair is funded for donation to a public school in need.
Consumers can purchase participating sets through National Book Store and Pandayan Bookshop branches nationwide, as well as through their online channels until Dec. 31, 2026.
The model effectively links retail spending to a circular-economy initiative. Rather than treating discarded plastic solely as waste, the campaign channels the material back into a product intended for long-term use in schools.
Environmental responsibility
For STABILO and its partners, the campaign also provides a way to incorporate environmental responsibility into a consumer-facing corporate social responsibility program.
By tying chair donations to sales of art supplies, the companies are also introducing sustainability to young consumers through a tangible example—showing how plastic packaging and other discarded materials can be transformed into something useful for education. —Vanessa Hidalgo | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
