IT'S a growing habit for many to gather all their paper, plastic and electronic wastes every first Saturday of the month and bring these to SM City Cagayan de Oro for the Recycling Market Day. By cleaning their closets and de-cluttering their homes, they can literally turn trash into cash.
A joint project of the SM Supermalls, in cooperation with the National Solid Waste Management Committee, Philippine Business for the Environment and various local government units, the Recycling Market Day is part of SM's commitment to help preserve the environment.
But what exactly happens to the items traded in the fair? Environmentally conscious shoppers will be happy to know that these are made into very useful items. And they will be amazed just how innovative and stylish these can be transformed as they trade at the next Recycling Market Day on Saturday, July 5.
Tetra packs and colored magazine sheets, for example, are made into fashion items like bags and necklaces by Kilus Foundation, a multi-purpose environmental cooperative.
In 1997, Barangay Chairman Andy Santiago of the Ugong Barangay Council in Pasig organized a group of housewives called the Samahan ng Kababaihan ng Ugong for the barangay's clean and green projects.
The group, which later became a 500-strong work force of women, was later formally registered as Kababaihan Iisa and Layunin Umuunlad ng Sambayanan or Kilus.
At present, Kilus provides livelihood for 200 families through the production of assorted bags and other reusable products from disposed tetra packs of different brands. These are later sanitized to become raw materials of the product.
Their production capacity is 40,000 pieces of bags per month and these are very popular with foreigners and exported to the USA, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and France.
Shoppers joining the Recycling Market Day at SM Megamall and SM Supercenter Pasig can check out the Kilus booths and be amazed on how they have so creatively recycled tetra packs.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle at the Recycling Market Day is on Saturday, simultaneously at all SM Malls nationwide. In Cagayan de Oro, this will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Las Ramblas Parking Area of SM City Cagayan de Oro.
