Lately our kids have been pretty active in recycling of our cans and bottles, boxes and plastic. They’ve been working with Inday (The lady that help us around the house) my nieces and nephew. Really they gather quiet a lot of cans and bottles due to over the holidays we’ve been consuming a lot of pop. Plus there were a lot of us here at the house at that time too because my sister and her family spent the New Year here with us. They sold the stuff last week and with the money they bought candies and drinks.
Just around October Coca Cola started a promotion that if you bought pop from them in the bottle, some of the lids had a smiley thing in it. If ever a person gets that they have to gather 7 pieces of that lid and go to the coke place or any place that had a redemption sign and you can exchange it for a Coca Cola glass with a Coke logo you can choose from the 7 colors thats they have. My goodness our kids really wanted to have that glass so they gather the Coke lid and save it. When they had 28 already they want that somebody will get it for them. Well, my nephew drove them to the Coca Cola place and when they got there they changed their minds because the line to get it was endless. I guess they’re also almost the the end of the promotion when they went there. They gave the lids to my brother-in-law maybe they can get it and keep it for them.
Really everyday for over 2 years now we have a guy that comes to our house to get the garbage. From there he will get stuff that he can sell or save that he can still use. He must have made money from it. He is sending his kids to school from his income from picking up garbage from people here in our neighborhood and other parts of town. He told my nephew that he has kids in college and high school. He is a nice guy. A lot of times if I have some stuff that we don’t use in the house we usually give it to him. I think he is also raising pigs. He is also getting left over food thats been in the fridge for awhile to give to his pigs. Our kids bring home the empty bottles from their drink in school. Sometimes they gave it to the guy that picks up our garbage, sometimes to Inday for the candy. Just not often for Inday though.
I think people here are now trying to recycle. I saw they had now a drop off place at SM parking lot during weekends. They are accepting electronics and household stuff too. I think this weekend my nephew will be dropping some office stuff there. I am not sure if they are paying and if they are how much?
Hi Feyma,
I own a small business in Australia; recycling glass into vases, bowls etc.
I taught the 1st aboriginal glass blowers in central Australia ho to do it; so you are speaking here about a matter close to my heart. http://www.amoongunaarts.com.au/studio.html
Here in R.P We have a neighbor running a suburban recycling business.
The family is pretty big, they go out on pushbike tricycles everyday and collect anything that can be recycled. They sort it out, then when they have enough to make the truck's journey worthwhile; the stuff is taken to a depot in Olongapo for transfer in bulk to factories which can make use of it.
I just wish someone would come up with something great to to with plastic bags; I can't stand the smell of them burning! (especially because I am well aware of the toxicity of the resulting smoke.
Hi Feyma,Here in the UK we have to recycle by law,there are fines if we do not.We have to seperate glass,plastics,tins and paper/cardboard into different containers to be collected fortnightly.I have a friend who lives in Thailand and he tells me guys come around collecting all recycled items,weigh them and pay a small ammount for them.By receiving small payment this prevents some of the dumping.As Chris mentioned its a shame we cannot recycle plastic bags as burning any plastics is HIGHLY toxic.However plastic bags are slowly being phased out here,and many stores charge for them now,once they were free.I am all in favour of recycling and over the years bought many used items from Auctions etc and saved myself a small fortune,however i do have a passion for anything antique,regards Chas.
glad to hear there is a growing recycling trend in davao. that was one of my concerns about moving back. we're chronic recyclers.
Dont belive all you read about recycle.There was a case in the UK a few months ago,were recycle paper was found buried in a landfill site in INDIA !!!
Chas, I wish they were being phased out or at least charged for here in Zambales! Almost every time I have bought anything here, it has been put in a bag before I can say "No bag salamat po".
After a visit of 2 to the same store they realize I don't like it and they quit bagging things on auto pilot. I hope this is the thin edge of the wedge and they will start asking customers if they want a bag!
I am glad you can make money recycling in Davao. My Mom recycles and she does it for free! I tell her it is a huge waste of resources because she has to wash the stuff and transport it and when she takes it to the recycling place they have to transport it and do all kinds of stuff with it to get rid of it. Now with the economy in the dumps people don't want the recycled products.
almost forgot…
Hey Feyma, I'm glad to hear you are buying the pops in glass.
One habit here; that of saving the deposit by putting the drink in a plastic bag with a straw, is really bad for health. Especially growing childrens health.
Th only positive thing (possibly?) is that plastic dissolved in food causes infertility.
Anyone reading this: avoid plastic in contact with food wherever possible!!! http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/plastiche…
Still trying to convince my mamang that you don't want to burn leaves, but pile them into compost. She says 'but it will just be a bukid", not believing that the microbes will convert it into black gold for her flowers. Any suggestions how i might overcome this?
We have stressed the fact that no burning of plastic whatsoever. And had to by threats and intimidation! It was fun seeing the reaction on their faces when we finally sold all that basura at the recycling center and they had enough money for 40 litres of petrol for the boat!
Sorry Feyma, if I'm butting in…?
Where are you in RP Robert?
Here in the Pinutubo Lahar field I have been able to show people very easily.
If you look around here at the ridges and valleys, the ones which were too steep to log before, thus had a bit of remnant forest on them; now have forest growing on the downslopes. This has been fed by nithing more than the nature left on the ridges, leaf litter, bird droppings etc.
Take your students to a bio degraded place, 15 or 40 years old; show them what nature does with leaves.
Not long ago I read a report that one of the richest women in China was suffering a downturn in business becuase her company whose primary product was recycling cardboard from wal*Mart an dothert UD 'big box' stores was not getting as much raw material from the US due to downturns in the retail economy there.
When I was in elementary school my mom and dad were both very active in founding and building up an American Legion post in our home town in New jersey. The post hall, which still stands and still makes money as a venue for many activities was 100% built by 'trash'. Every month the Legion ran a 'scrap drive' where volunteers went house to house and collected waste newspaper, cardboard and virtually anything else residents wanted to get rid of. Each month we would fill severla huge semi-truck trailers with scrap material which all made a profit.
A few years later, after the post hall was completed and 100% debt free siome new leadership began to denigrate the 'rag picking' mentality of the founders who had originally founded the post. I knowe it hurt my dad and the others who spent all that time deeply, but mor importantly it pointed up the current attitude of many in the US that actual hands on recycling was somehow 'beneath' the average American. Many seem to think that "someone" should handle recycling, but certainly not they, themselves … it can be dirty work.
One of those case where, as in Bob's recent post about being 'behind the times' the Philippines may actually be ahead by being 'behind'. "Bote" boys are a regular fixture on our street, we save everything recyclable for our once a week yard boy who is happy to cart away the p[plastic, glass and metal that would otherwise be clogging up a landfill.
SM. the hige retail chain now has monthly recycling markets in the store parking lots here in Luzon where one can carry in and even get paid for glass, plastic and metal refuse. I'm sure the bote boys don't like the competition, but if Henry Sy is in the business, there's a profit to be made.
Hi Chris – I was browsing at the link you gave. They did a nice job there. I like the stuff they made.
Anyway, the guy that comes to our house and pick up the garbage, he is pushing the cart and collect the garbage and sort it out and sell. Really for this guy I was talking about. Collecting garbage his source of income. I think he is making pretty good for his family. His satisfied of what he is earning though. Really good for him. At least he is earning some money for his family.
Nice seeing you again here!
Hi chasdv – In the US when I was there we have to recycle. Each houses were given designated colored bin for plastic containers, cans, milk jug(carton). A lot of the grocery stores there would asked you when they packed the groceries if you prefer the plastic bags or the paper bag.
Here in the Philippines most at the grocery stores if you buy a small amount of stuff it will be put into a plastic bag then. If you buy like pop and have a lot of groceries the packers then asked you if you prefer your groceries be in the plastic or in the box.
Really Philippines have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to recycle. Needs to learn some more though.
Hey I'm an antique fan. I like antique furnitures. Oh. Thats another topic to discuss. 😉
Thank you for the nice comment. Nice seeing you again here!
Hi macky – Davao's learning though. Gosh, I hope we can catch up with you. 😉
Honestly, I saw a lot of people now trying to recycle.
Hope to see you in Davao soon. Take care.
Hi john.j. – Thank you for sharing your info.
Thank you for stopping by!
Hi Brent K – Yeah some people make money from it. A year or so ago in the newspaper here there was a story of a saleslady that quit her job and tried to do the recycle business. It said that she made a lot of money by doing the recycle and that her husband quit his job too and joined her on the recycle business.
I'm pretty sure theirs still lots of place here in Davao for recycle. The guy still comes to our house everyday to get the garbage.
Maybe your mom just want to give the stuff to the recycle place. She doesn't want any payment.
Nice to see you here. Thank you for stopping by!
Hi Robert – Ha ha ha finally your family learn a lot from you. 😉 Are they still doing right now what you've been teaching them to do? I hope so. 😉
Good luck to you and your family. Thank you for stopping by here!
Hi Chris – Thank you so much for the good comment and advice. Highly appreciated.
Really nice seeing you here!
Hi Dave Starr – Thank you so much for the nice story. Thank you also for your comment.
Lots of bote boys here in Mindanao too. You'll never know one of those bote boys might be the big businessman someday. Hope so.
Thank you Dave for stopping by. And thank you for your nice comment.
Take care!
recycle , recycle, recycle Good for the community , the economy , for your health and you help your fellow man, smells better too .so keep it up ..Phil n Jess
Thanks for the advice, Chris. Mamang is from Bukidnon and is working a project for us in President Carlos Garcia Island, Bohol. God willing, I will return there Feb. She says that "we have a bukid of leaves now", so I hope she is composting, Feyma! We gonna see in a few weeks…
Overheard my wife tell Mamang last night that we need to clean the beach of seaweed that washes up at certain times and put that in the leaf pile, too. I will keep you posted!
reflecting back…i wonder how much the "botelya" man made in a day as he limped from barrio to barrio …when every household saved and recycled bottles.
after all we had to have containers for the ginamos and the dayok.
My brothers used to take me to their trip buying Bote all the way to Dapitan Mati and to other isolated places with our big Kareton. Of course, I was in the Kareton the whole time having blast. Once our kareton was full, we headed back to the city and sell our bote. We were so happy, coz we get to buy stuff, watch movie, buy some maruya, bread, and the rest we gave it to our Mama. When we had a reunion last year we talked about our experience‘s growing up and at the same we had teary eyes, I know it was tough growing up, but if weren’t for the Bote and our kareton I wouldn’t be who I am today..
Thank's again Feyma!
Hi Feyma,I just remembered an old English saying whilst reading Dave Starr comment. "Where there is muck(trash) there is brass",(brass being a slang word for money).Yes i also love Antique furniture and once had a partnership in a small antique store,affordable stuff not the very expensive,regards Chas.
Hi Feyma! Here in Gensan, we segregate our garbage and there is somebody who comes to get food leftovers for pigs. We actually sell empty bottles and cans. I would have loved to give them away but once we do, I know we'd be harassed by kids everyday who are going around the subdivision looking for cans and bottles. I actually hope that people do segregate and recycle their garbage.
Hi Feyma, great and important post. In my home country Germany recycling is requested by law (as Chas explained the situatiuon in the UK). My family and I try to do our best also in the Philippines. But we observed many times, that all "basura meet together on one big hill". Sure, Phil and Jess, good for the community and smells better. let's do it all together… .
Hello Feyma,
I am so sorry I did not meet you and Bob this last time I was there. but on to recycling. I was so impressed the first time I was in Davao City with all the California, USA laws aboupted ie, seat belt law, smoking law, helmet law, etc. BUT on recycling I am gald you at lest have a deposit on bottles. We have crv here. that is California Redemtion Value. Means it is just added to price of what you buy. Most people are too lazy to save and turn in to redemtion center. Hench in the recycle bin or tossed to road side or garbage. Oh someone does recycle but not the rich America. The state does and makes good money at it. Most States have deposit an insentive to take it back. Like your bottles. In fact most of your bottles state who they belong to. Maybe it is time for California to take a hint from the Philippines. Oh I do go to the recycle center ever since my kids came by once and asked if they could have have the cans I saved and came back with over $100.00 dollars. hehe
Hi Phil n Jess R – You got that right. 😉
Hi Robert – Hey at least you already had work plan ahead of you before your visit to your place here. 😉 Hopefully the family already finish up cleaning up.
Have a good trip back soon. Have a good visit too.
Hi bebot – I'm sure they are not making a lot. But I think it satisfy his family because he will not keep coming back if its not supporting the family. Not sure really how much the earning though. Maybe enough also to buy food for the day.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I think that SM Malls are going a great job not only in making it easier for us to recycle but also they are sending out the message that here in the Philippines, we really need all the help that we can get. Every year, there are hundreds of thousands of us who are affected with flash floods and health problems caused by pollution.
Thank you. People like you make me realize we can still have a shot at a greener Philippines.
Hi The Green Theory – Thank you so much for the kind words.
I'm happy to see you here. Take care!
Hi,
I do appreciate your being keen on recycling. In Sto.Tomas, Davao del Norte, their plastics are being used in making pavement bricks and their LGU sells it. Try to visit the place and you will see how they are handling their Waste Management Program. You will be amazed that their palengke is very clean and their garbage site is actually a park. They have been cited nationally and internationally for their initiative. IN Davao City, our officials need only to replicate what they do. The garbage bins that our taxes bought only contribute to the stink.