When flooding occurs due to plastic wastes clogging the waterways, the blame goes straight to the local officials for their failure to properly dispose of the garbage.
Most households are also burning their plastic wastes to the destruction of the ozone layer that protects the earth from the scorching heat of the sun.
All this may not happen anymore if proper waste disposal is strictly followed: reduce, reuse and recycle.
Recycling waste - that is taking something old and making it something new – is what Maria Reina O. Apala, 43, a housewife from Minaog, Dipolog City, is doing right now with her newly discovered livelihood.
In December 2012, she went to Zamboanga City to visit her husband’s relatives. During her stay there, she saw her mother-in-law making purse, bags, and mats using silver food wrappers from Nescafe, Oishi and the like. These wrappers are washed and cut in sizes before making them into bags, mats and similar items.
When she returned home, Apala immediately started her new livelihood. She goes out every morning to gather the needed materials from the neighborhood.
When asked how much she needs to produce a bag, her reply was: “I only need those silver food wrappers from the thrash, no. 18 nylon thread and a needle.
“Pil-on nako na siya ginagmay, magporma ug zigzag, sumpay-sumpayon, dayon tahion ug pormahong pitaka, bag, o kaha banig. Hago lang gyud kay kinamot man ang pagtahi,” she said.
(I have to fold the wrappers into small pieces, form some zigzags, and sow them together into purse, bag or mats. It’s quite backbreaking because it is handmade.)
Her handmade bag is sold at P100 each, her mat at P250 each and the purse at P50 – P100 each.
Apala said she enjoys her new craft and her neighbors have started to appreciate it. “I realize that there’s money in garbage,” she pointed out.
While the government keeps advocating proper garbage disposal, Apala’s effort in recycling garbage to eke out a living must be emulated. It will not only help solve problems on garbage disposal but it will also provide income to jobless individuals.
Indeed, her Christmas vacation in 2012 in Zamboanga City was not only a reunion of sort but an educational tour as well. (PIA9)