From recyclables to grocery packs

Subic Bay Freeport — A total of 91 workers of a company that cleans and maintains Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s (SBMA) buildings all over the Subic Bay Freeport (SBF) were given grocery packs during the 14th Recyclables Collection Event (RCE) at the Harbor Point Ayala Mall last Monday.

The giveaways were bought using the P56,987 proceeds from the sale of recycled materials donated by SBF stakeholders as part of SBMA’s Cabron Neutral Program, SBMA chairman and administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño said.

The donated recyclable materials came from SBF companies, SBMA departments and residents of the Freeport.

Workers from Omniworx were chosen as recipients of groceries for a good reason.

“Why Omniworx? Because they are our waste heroes. They are our partner in the segregation of wastes at source. They ensure that recyclables are segregated properly and delivered it during the bi-annual RCE for proper disposal through our recyclers,” SBMA senior deputy administrator for Regulatory Group and Ecology Department manager Amethya Dela Llana said.

SBMA chief of staff Atty. Von Rodriguez, representing Aliño, Dela Llana and Department of Trade and Industry provincial director Enrique Tacbad handed the grocery packs to the recipients.

Tacbad said that persons deprived of liberty under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology turn discarded 3-in-1 coffee plastic sachets or juice tetra packs into handbags, wallets, fashionable knick-knacks and other items. They are then sold to consumers.

The groceries handover kicked off the observance of Zero Waste Month (ZWM) as mandated by Proclamation No. 760 series of 2014. The themes for this year are “Food Waste No More” and “Break Free from Plastics.”

The ZWM aims to encourage the public to change their lifestyle by emulating sustainable practices.