schoolscolleges2020 hed news

trashtoriceThe Shelter and Community Development Project Management Team of XU Tabang Marawi successfully conducted the “Trash-to-Rice” campaign at the Angat Buhay Village, an XU-led resettlement community for approximately 300 individuals in Marawi City.

Last November, XU-PMT started the campaign by demonstrating to the community members how to make an eco-brick from the plastic wastes.

To increase the community’s appreciation on this campaign, XU-PMT will convert the eco-bricks created and collected by the household into rice and grocery items.

An eco-brick is a plastic bottle packed with plastic to a set density to create a reusable building block.

On January 15, XU-PMT had their first round of “Trash-to-Rice.” Twenty-two households participated and had turned-over a total of 36 and ¾ kilograms of eco-bricks in exchange for rice and grocery items such as coffee, sugar, soap, and hygiene kits.

This was followed with a second round of “Trash-to-Rice” on February 13 which showed an increase of households participating in the campaign.

A total of 57 and ½ kilograms of eco-bricks were collected from 35 households in exchange for rice and a mug.

Currently, XU-PMT is conducting a third round of the campaign.

(IN PHOTO: A household head weighs his eco-bricks for the exchange of rice and grocery items. Supplied photo.)

XU-PMT observed that there have been lesser household plastic wastes such as toothpaste and shampoo sachets, snacks packs, and kitchen plastic wastes that were improperly thrown in the drainage or in the roads. This is a good indicator considering that solid waste has been a rampant problem in Marawi City.  

Aside from rice and some grocery items, the “Trash-to-Rice” campaign was able to provide an environmentally harmonious surrounding for the residents while in the transitory shelters.

The eco-bricks that have been collected by the XU-PMT were also given back to the community by making it as space and slope protector of the households’ backyard gardens. This provides the community a tool to secure their garden which becomes their major source of healthy food while in the state of displacement.

Vincent Manus, an XU-PMT community development officer, said that the community members were able to appreciate the campaign as they received many benefits from it.

The XU-PMT team leader, Jason Jay Dalman, emphasized that this campaign was carefully and strategically thought by the team to achieve community behavioral formation which has been always the core objective of every Xavier Ateneo’s community engagement.

The XU Project Management Team is staying in Marawi for one year to conduct community development activities focusing on governance, livelihood, values formation, and sanitation and waste management in XU led resettlement community.∎ 

eco bricks1
MARAWI. Eco-bricks were used as space and slope protector in select gardens in the Angat Buhay Village Area 7 in Marawi City. Supplied photo. 

eco bricks2
MARAWI. Eco-bricks were used as space and slope protector in select gardens in the Angat Buhay Village Area 7 in Marawi City. Supplied photo.