Un-hurting Mother Nature

(Left Photo) A student looks for materials among piles of scrap. (Right Photo) Stacks of finished recycled trash bins.
(Left Photo) A student looks for materials among piles of scrap. (Right Photo) Stacks of finished recycled trash bins.

THE Philippines is one of the biggest ocean polluter of plastic. This has been reported over and over but to no avail, we are still one of the countries which contribute to plastic pollution in oceans and harm the environment.

Plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate or the PET bottles are the most common plastic single-used by Filipinos. PET bottles are often used as packaging for soda, juice, and water. Since this kind of plastic is not safe to reuse, they often end up being disposed of, and most of the time, improperly.

The project of students from the Western Institute of Technology in Iloilo City to make trash bins using plastic bottles gives hope that we might be able to save our planet. This project is made by the 3rd year and 4th year Business Administration students majoring in Operations Management who took up the subject Environmental Management, an elective course under Ms. Theresa Roco Pineda, the only one who teaches the subject in the faculty. This course is in line with their advocacy to uphold outcome-based education and also in compliance with the institute’s pollution control office. They have been implementing environment for many years now.

LOOK: Students from Western Institute of Technology (WIT) create trash bins from plastic bottles for their environmental…

Posted by Panay News on Monday, September 16, 2019

Panay News had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Theresa and some of the students who made the project. Ms. Theresa sent here students to various junk shops around Iloilo City to let them see firsthand the overwhelming amount of disposed PET bottles after which, she gave them the task to make the recycled materials into trash cans.

Basically, all you need are 30 1.5L PET bottles, about half a kilo of aluminum wire and pliers to cut them and half meter plastic screen. All in all, you will only spend a little above a hundred pesos but giving much more to the environment. Instead of ending up in the seas, these PET bottles can be in our homes, schools and everywhere in our community.

This activity is also best done in groups for efficiency. This can be a group project or a family project. Aside from trash bins, PET bottles have already been used as eco-bricks in other parts of the country, and according to WIT College of Business and Accountancy dean Mr. Wilson Valencia Lozada, they have already made brooms out of these PET bottles in the past.

We can always help protect Mother Nature in our own little ways. With collective action, we can create a big impact on our society and environment. Let us all strive to un-hurt Mother Nature and the place we call home./PN

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