ILOILO – To reduce the spread of plastic bottles on roads and open spaces, the Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office (PGENRO), launched the “Tapon to Ipon Project.
Yesterday, PGENRO conducted information dissemination among the employees of the provincial capitol about the project.
It is part of the province’s celebration of its 122nd founding anniversary through “Semana sang Iloilo” slated from April 11 to 14, with the theme “122 Years of Championing Progress.”
According to Mitzi Peñaflorida, PGENRO senior environmental management specialist, under the project, employees and Ilonggos could collect the following: PET-classified beverage bottle (the marking could be found on the bottom of the bottle) that is clear or transparent, has no dirt or garbage inside and no smell, and dry.
Once gathered, they could go to 20 identified small-scale collection hubs or identified sari-sari stores in Pavia town.
Half a kilo of PET bottles could be exchanged for any product of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.
For larger amounts of PET bottles collected, they could be sold at large-scale collection hubs or in junk shops partnered with Coca-Cola.
Based on Peñaflorida’s recent monitoring, the cost of PET bottles is P14 per kilo, but it increases or decreases depending on the prevailing market price.
As for the capitol employees, they can also collect the PET bottles in the meantime. The PGENRO will launch a collection hub in the capitol next month.
“Tanan nga PET bottles or clear bottles puede naton matipon and kon may enough nga volume, puede naton mapabaylohan sa different collection hubs,” said Peñaflorida in an interview with Panay News.
Last month, a memorandum of agreement was signed by Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., representatives of Coca-Cola, and the municipality of Pavia as the pilot area of the “Tapon to Ipon” Project.
PGENRO, along with Coca-Cola, targets providing collection hubs to other municipalities in the future to make the project accessible to all.
Since year 2000, the capitol has been conducting “Limpyo Iloilo,” a province-wide convergence cleanup.
Despite the cleanup, many PET bottles are still improperly disposed of and block drainages, which consequently cause flooding.
“Damo kita gihapon sang makita sa highways [PET bottles]. Siguro kon ma-circulate province-wide ang project, ma-amat-amat reduce ang PET bottles,” said Peñaflorida.
She also explained the provincial government has been campaigning for a long time to collect garbage to prevent its spread around the province, which not only causes flooding but also affects tourism.
An earlier project of the provincial government is the Basura-Baylo-Baligya-iBanko, where garbage is collected and sold in junk shops.
Another project of PGENRO to minimize waste is Trash in a Bottle: ART (Alternative Recycling Technology) on Plastics./PN
