Environmental group One Earth-One Ocean and Holcim Philippines are pushing to include the study of circular economy in the curriculum of the Department of Education (DepEd) so that students can learn the bad impacts of all kinds of waste in the ocean, especially in the country’s waters.

On Thursday, the group and Holcim, the brains behind the Circular Explorer, a catamaran vessel that collects the trash in Manila Bay, deployed educational toolkits on circularity to select primary and secondary schools in the National Capital Region.

In an interview, Christine Bellen, project manager of Circular Explorer, said the goal is to eventually incorporate the modules into the educational curriculum to teach children the value of conserving resources and preventing waste through circularity.

Launched in 2021, the solar-powered Circular Explorer is supporting the clean-up of Manila Bay, where it has already collected 40,000 kilograms of marine litter as of 31 July 2024, about 40 percent are plastics.

But more than collecting waste, the vessel is also gathering data to guide researchers in developing recommendations to policymakers for possible solutions to at least lessen water pollution.

“Circular Explorer has three pillars -- recovery, education, and science. It does not act as a trash boat, but also a research vessel. The University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute uses the vessel to gather information about marine pollution using oceanographic sensors and a microplastic collector,” said Bellen.

“Then the data will be shared with the Plastics Research Incentive Methods Training Program to capacitate 80 early-career researchers and faculty members from 50 universities and government agencies across the Philippines,” she added.