MANILA, Philippines — A barangay in Muntinlupa City yesterday launched a program exchanging trash for rice.
In a statement, the city government said the “Bigas sa Basura” program was launched in Barangay Sucat “to encourage Muntinlupeños to recover recyclable materials from waste by incentivizing the practice with rice, the staple food of Filipinos.”
Every two kilos of plastic wastes were replaced with a kilo of rice. Residual wastes such as plastic bottles and food sachets could be exchanged for rice, the city government added.
Barangay Sucat said 138 kilos of residual waste were collected from residents.
The plastic wastes will be brought to a plastic recycler, which will turn the wastes into construction materials, design materials and other items.