The Philippines recycles
I remember growing up in the provinces, every Saturday morning a vendor would go around our neighborhood shouting “basura! basura kayo diyan!” (“Trash! Trash! Do you have trash?”) My siblings and I would “sell” him our old newspapers and bottles of all kinds, paid according to value in peso. That’s how we made money for extra allowances and after-school snacks. At that time, that’s how most households turned their trash into cash. Now, it seems this venture is being carried out on a grand scale by some of the biggest companies in the Philippines. The Philippine Business for the Environment (PBE) has campaigned a “garbage recovery program in which an industry is linked to a buyer that can reuse or recycle the waste materials generated by the other”.
“Corporations, establishments, organizations and even individuals are encouraged to bring their recyclables like used paper; old electronics, office equipment and car batteries; PET (a type of plastic material) bottles; aluminum cans and used oil to designated drop off areas all over the country where these can be redeemed for cash at buying stations set up by recyclers.”
The centerpiece of this project is a recyclable collection event on Earth Day week every April in five areas nationwide, including the Rockwell Center in Makati. Over the past four years, the non-profit organization has collected more than P1.4 million worth of trash. Now that’s a mountain of cash!The surrounding villages in Rockwell also participate in this endeavor so hopefully it catches fire (pun intended) in other cities. Maybe it won’t be long now and we’ll see less trash and more of the beauty that lies underneath the piles of garbage.
As an insert, here are some more ways that my family and neighbors recycled waste and trash:
1. We used magazine pictures of our favorite celebrities for book covers, wallpapers and frames and sometimes, creatively into gift or shopping “palengke” -style bags.
2. The neighborhood pigs, dogs and other animals get to eat our leftovers (nope, not Pedigree pellets – they eat whatever we ate!).
3. We turn leaves, spoiled food, fish and innards into compost. Sometimes we’d burn dried leaves under a favorite fruit tree, which supposedly encourages fruit to grow or deter insects.
Do you have creative uniquely Filipino ways of recycling? Do tell – we shall list them here.
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