Women for Wastes and Ways: A Project Basura Experience (FEATURE)

When the pandemic brought by deadly Corona-19 struck the world late quarter of the year 2020, everything seemed to have been halted.

But no such contagion could ever stop the human mind to think more positively, especially when someone’s advocacy is challenged.

And instead, the pandemic’s mayhem has turned out to be meaningfully productive for the mothers of Barangay Felisa whose source of income is by scavenging. The barangay is Bacolod City’s host community of its sanitary landfill where these mothers scavenged for a living.

Hence, Project Basura came to exist as a livelihood initiative of the Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (COYE) and its sister club the Brigadiers of Environment for Reconstruction and Development (BERDE), both are multi-awardee clubs of Handumanan National High School in the Division of Bacolod City.

Basura, is a local term which means a trash. Thus, the project originated its concept with

a trash-to-cash principle which has brought Project Basura to fruition. Project Basura is an upcycling livelihood initiative that the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) funded which aims to provide communities with knowledge and skills on upcycling concept or material development of discarded materials, thus helping in the reduction of waste product affecting the immediate environment while enhancing their creative abilities.

The mother-scavengers produced masskara dolls (a miniature of a Masskara Festival dancer), macramé hanging plant holder, lampshade, icon and fashion cups, garland, wall decors, all made of recyclable materials with mask motifs.

Project partners are the Barangay Felisa Council, Informal Waste Sector Association of Bacolod City (IWSABC), City Cooperative and Livelihood Development Office (CCLDO), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – Negros Occidental, and the Association of Negros Artists (ANA).

Relatedly, the project’s conceptualization was the clubs’ advocacy for Global Citizenship, Sustainable Development Goals, Community Engagement, Citizenship and Solidarity, and 21st Century Education under its banner program HEELP (Health and Environment, Education, and Livelihood Program). This, as also seasoned by its mantra, HNHS: ‘My School, My Cause.’

The recipients shared that they gather recyclable household wastes from as much 125 to 200 kilos a day or 750 kilos to 1,000 kilos a week and sold them for their income. Collected wastes include glass and plastic bottles, soda, beer, wine, and whisky, toiletries, cooking stuffs, laundry, households use, galvanized iron, variety of cans, sacks (rice, charcoal, bran, cement), clothes and textiles, wood, paper (white, colored, newsprint), cartoon, food/pastry boxes or lunch boxes, and other.

Wastes

In terms of waste production, more women are involved in waste recycling projects and informal associations compared to men. This is rooted in the fact that women are given less access to employment opportunities therefore they’d have to find means to make ends meet.

Relatedly, the Philippines’ sachet economy, the rate of plastic pollution increases rapidly, leading to the prevalence of plastic pollution. The informal waste workers are thus exposed and become at risk to this sort of pollution consequently not only affecting their health but their livelihood as well.

Women in the Philippines generally take up a larger portion of the informal sector of workers being found in small businesses and underdeveloped sectors of society due to their need of balancing both work and home life while men dominate the formal waste sector. Informal female workers found a livelihood in the landfills of the Philippines. These workers are not considered formal members of the working force under the labor rules and regulations. Forming informal associations, these workers practice waste recycling wherein they collect scraps of garbage in dump sites and salvage it into a recycled usable item that may be needed by a certain group of society. Through this, they were able to sell the scraps to companies and other sectors for a variety of uses. This recycling of wastes became their means of earning and their method of making ends meet for their respective families (Villgro Philippines, 2021).

Ways

When Project Basura came to exist, the mother-beneficiaries started to empower their selves as they engage and enjoy the power and control over their own lives and personal actions. They get the support they need that is right for them with the Barangay Council giving full support. The project, it not only gave the mothers livelihood and income, but the power or authority to go after their aspirations and hope. It ranges from self-strength to efficiency building. And in solidarity, they have become socially involved, trained, economically and psychologically sound.

The project can be a smart solution to hunger if not to totally address poverty in the community. For engaging people in the community and supporting them on their well-being is what it takes today to laying groundwork for them to reach their full potential.

Through social work, it helps use intervening methods to guide people toward achieving a sense of control. It centers on helping marginalized people at individual, group and community levels gain the personal, interpersonal and political power to improve their lives. Through advocacy, as a medium for community engagement and human development thereby empowering people enables them to have the autonomy and self-determination as responsible and productive citizens.* (Contributed by George M. De La Cruz)