Cavite barangay gives kilo of rice in exchange for kilo of plastic

In a bid to encourage their residents to dispose of their waste properly, a barangay in Silang, Cavite came up with a project of giving the locals a kilogram of rice in exchange for a kilogram of plastic.

This initiative of Barangay Tartaria has received positive comments online as its Facebook post dated February 4 went viral.

The viral post shows photos of a resident giving the plastic he collected to a local official and receiving rice in return.

“Last October 2018 po namin sinabi sa mga kabarangay po namin, tapos po nagstart na po kami nung Monday (Last October, we informed our residents about the project, then we finally started it on Monday),” says Brgy. Sec. Karlo Manalo Alvarez.

Alvarez said that the project was announced during a “State of Barangay Address” of Captain Wilfredo “Willie” Maala, adding that its purpose was to prevent garbage from cluttering their barangay.

“Ang purpose po nito ay para hindi nagkalat ang basura lalo na po ang plastic. Alam naman po natin na ito ay bumabara sa daanan ng tubig (The purpose of this project was to stop littering in our village, especially plastic waste. We all know that it clogs the drainage system),” he added.

The collected plastic will be shredded, placed inside plastic bottles, and turned into “ecobricks.” Ecobricks are plastic bottles filled with plastic to create a reusable building block.

As of posting, the barangay has already collected 58 kilograms of plastic and given away 58 kilograms of rice. /je