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'Plastik ni Langga': A Masbate school initiative involving several communities to help fight plastic pollution


The world has a huge plastic pollution problem: Plastic garbage takes hundreds of years to decompose, it's posed a danger to wildlife and wildlife habitats, and may contain chemicals that have been associated with various health problems and even global warming.

And so Masbate City’s Bantigue High School decided to do something about it. Science teacher and environmentalist John Bren Dolor, with the help of the school’s enterprising young minds, is using a special advocacy program called the “Plastik Ni Langga Project” to help fight plastic pollution.

 


Plastik ni Langga Project

“The concept of Plastik Ni Langga Project is to have a year-round and community-based collection, recycling, and selling of any plastic PET bottles in Bantigue High School,” said Dolor. The school and seven partner communities work together to plan and implement the project.

The program has multiple objectives, including giving students the power to advocate positive change through environmental campaigns, and exposing the youth to activities that will teach them about the importance of environmental conservation.

 


Each Bantigue High School student is given the daily task of bringing at least five empty PET bottles to their science teacher(s). Every Friday, the school’s science organization and project organizer, the Society of Young Scientists (SYS), checks the numbers collected and reports the data to the faculty.

A junkshop owner then buys the bottles to be recycled as part of an ecobrick program. The cash made is used to purchase trash bins for the school.

 


Additionally, the SYS is required to collect empty 1.75L PET bottles to be used to construct ecobrick benches for the school. The school’s stakeholders are given rubber trash bins as commendation.

The SYS engages in other activities to further the goals of the project. For example, the upcoming “Purot Basura Program” will task school personnel with visiting communities to help eliminate trash.

“A simple initiative can make a difference for the next generation,” said Dolor.

Making the project sustainable

As program founder, Dolor’s chief role in the Plastik Ni Langga Project is to investigate and manage the various ways “to make this project more sustainable for the next generation of change-makers.”

Dolor also serves as adviser to the SYS. Established on July 10, 2018, the organization’s main objective is to promote “scientific understanding and action through social, civic, intellectual, recreational and environment-related programs and activities.”

Dolor and the SYS have faced many challenges during the implementation of the project, including a lack of resources and “disorganized monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.” To solve such issues, they came up with a strategy involving “extension work through partnerships with the local communities.”

 


Partners are responsible for disseminating information about the project to the students’ parents and the larger community. Miss Earth Philippines 2018 candidate Marjorie Vista coordinates with other members of society to help implement the program.

Dolor is also open to forming partnerships with government and non-governmental organizations. He has already approached the UNESCO Young Professionals of the Philippines and the AFS Intercultural Programs Philippines about project collaborations.

Making a difference

Bantigue High School, through Plastik Ni Langga Project, aims to expose its participants to local wisdom and the value of environmental conservation. Dolor believes the communities the school caters to have become more adaptable by learning how to economize their resources. The teachers, parents, and stakeholders have also been able to “revive traditional ways of relating to one another and cooperate in many economic activities.”

Local wisdom is applied “to protect, preserve, and, if possible, restore the health and integrity of ecosystems, ensuring the functioning of essential ecological processes through beating plastic pollution, which is one of the causes of environmental degradation. That makes us a winner even in the international arena.”

 


According to Dolor, the Plastik Ni Langga project has many positive benefits on Bantigue High School. For one, it engages the students’ interest in environmental conservation through volunteer work and project-based learning. “This project occupies a unique position at the frontline of educational, environmental, and economic reforms,” he said.

Among other things, the project also develops the skills of school personnel and organization officers, and offers lessons for the expansion of such programs to benefit the wider community.

Dolor hopes the Plastik Ni Langga Project will encourage people to investigate the context that influences the emergence of plastic pollution. He believes that if policy makers allocated “additional funds for the development and maintenance of the programs linked to the project,” the project could be implemented on a larger scale.

“We believe that we cannot do it alone,” Dolor said. “We believe that we need you to create a difference through sustainable development. Together, let’s make a plastic-free Earth.”

He added: “If we love God, we must also love His creation, especially nature.” — LA, GMA News

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