In Alilem, Ilocos Sur, a simple question is changing how one small community looks at plastic waste.
What if the bottles, sachets, plastic bags and other materials usually thrown away could still be useful?
Instead of immediately sending these items to the trash, residents began collecting, sorting and upcycling plastic waste. Some of the discarded materials are turned into useful products, giving them another purpose instead of letting them end up in landfills or waterways.
The effort takes on added meaning in a community that is part of the Alilem River, which became the Ilocos Region’s entry to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Rivers for Life Award.
Protecting a river can begin long before anyone has to clean it.
By sorting and finding new uses for plastic waste, the community helps reduce the amount of trash that could eventually find its way into waterways. What happens at home, in a neighborhood or in a small community can have an effect on the environment around it.
Alilem’s experience also shows that environmental action does not always have to begin with a big program or a large budget. Sometimes, it starts with something as ordinary as deciding to keep a plastic bottle instead of throwing it away, or finding another use for something that would otherwise become waste.
The community may be small, but the idea can travel far.
If a small community in Ilocos Sur can find ways to give plastic waste a second life, families, schools, organizations and groups of friends can take inspiration from them. Start with what is already around you. Collect, sort, reuse and upcycle.
One piece of plastic at a time, a community can help keep its surroundings, and the river that connects it, cleaner.
