KALIBO, Aklan – The Caticlan village council in Malay, Aklan recently launched “Basura Mo, Palitan ko ng Bigas” project aimed at reducing the volume of plastic wastes in barangay level.
Village chief Ralf Tolosa said residents are encouraged to bring recyclable trash in exchange for a kilo of rice.
“Those who wanted to trade their shredded plastics are urged to bring them in Caticlan Multi-purpose Hall from Monday to Saturday,” Tolosa said.
Aside from shredded plastics, a kilo of plastic bottles will also get a resident a kilo of rice. Every household could swap their plastics to a maximum of five kilos of rice in a month.
The barter area is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and accepts only clean plastic bottles suitable to be recycled, the village chief added.
Every day, tons of trash is generated in Malay, Aklan especially in Boracay Island. Much of the garbage is deposited in Kabulihan sanitary landfill in mainland town.
Tolosa, also the president of Liga ng mga Barangay, said they initiated the pro-environment campaign to push a zero-waste community.
“We want to raise awareness about environment and conservation,” he stressed. (With a report from Akean Forum/PN)
