Mandaue village uses plastic to make pillows

CEBU, Philippines - The Mandaue City government has made another breakthrough in recycled plastic, this time barangay Canduman uses it to make pillows.

Earlier, barangay Pagsabungan took off by transforming plastic into bunker fuel.

Barangay Canduman captain Leo Jabas said generally their 4,000 households have adopted already the habit of segregating their garbage.

Taking advantage of this, the barangay recycled the plastic materials by washing these and after drying shred these at the barangay’s material recovery facility through a machine awarded by the city government for winning the best barangay in terms of solid waste management.

The shredded materials are then delivered to their livelihood center at Kobe Housing operated by the Kobe-Canduman Homeowners Association, Inc. for the pillow project.

“The project has taken off a few months ago and it proves to be viable,” said Jabas who was awarded during the 44th Charter Day celebration as “Outstanding Punong Barangay.”

The organization recycles the unused leather materials from Dedon, a furniture exporting firm, for the pillow project.

The pillows aside from being soft are durable and affordable.

The organization started earning a living by making rags and bags but they now concentrate on pillow-making since the return of investment is higher.

Jabas whose barangay also won an environmental award from Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is planning to buy clean plastic from every household at P1 or P2 per kilo to motivate everyone to collect plastic instead of indiscriminately throwing it.

“This is aimed in getting rid of plastic, the number one culprit of floods since it obstructs the flow of water in the drainage system,” Jabas said. (FREEMAN)