Residents of Gumaca town in Quezon province have been showing more cooperation with the local government’s waste management efforts by participating in a novel project where they can have their trash exchanged for rice.
Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO) chief Ronald Cortez said that the “Bigas Palit Basura” started last year as the local government unit’s (LGU) initiative to minimize trash in the environment.
The townsfolk are urged to gather discarded materials such as plastic wrappers, shampoo sachets and other packaging materials, cut them into pieces and stuff the shredded trash inside a 1.5-liter plastic bottle.
Cortez added the bottle is then weighed and correspondingly exchanged with rice according to its weight.
“On average, each bottle weighed 3/4 to 1 kilogram which is a big help to our people,” he said.
Cortez emphasized that the initiative has been very successful, noting that the rice allocation intended for the second quarter of this year has been used up since April.
In an interview, Mayor Webster Letargo said his office initially allotted only 90 sacks of rice every quarter for the project but they are planning to increase the allocation.
The local executive lauded his constituents’ enthusiasm, saying even schoolchildren have been participating in the campaign.
Meanwhile, Cortez said the collected bottles stuffed with plastic trash can be used to strengthen the walls of buildings due to their sturdiness when compressed.
“We are also exploring the idea of the stuffed bottles as walls for libraries in the villages and areas conducive to learning,” he said.
