'Youth for Dagat' expands to empower students vs. plastic pollution

The France-Philippines United Action (FPUA) officially launched the second phase of the Youth for Dagat project on 24 March at the Alliance Française de Manille, aiming to empower student leaders in developing sustainable waste management solutions and expanding recycling initiatives across Metro Manila.

This next phase of the project enlists students from the University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, World Citi Colleges, Adamson University, and Miriam College. Through the Student Ambassador Program, these students will be trained to promote recycling, environmental awareness, and community-level plastic waste reduction initiatives in their respective institutions and neighborhoods.

The program features a comprehensive training component led by Plastic Odyssey, which introduced ambassadors to the science of plastic pollution, its life cycle, and low-tech recycling technologies used globally. It also included practical steps in waste transformation — from collection to product conversion — enabling students to understand and replicate these solutions in the local context.

Beyond classroom knowledge, ambassadors will apply their learnings by helping design campus-based solutions such as the installation of segregated eco-bins and participating in a Design Thinking Workshop to co-create community waste management campaigns. The students will also help organize the Summit on Plastic Solutions, set to run alongside the upcoming United Nations Conference on the Ocean.

The event also showcased Plastic Odyssey’s upcoming projects in the country, including the Recycling School Project and Recycling Academy, both of which aim to train local changemakers and incubate scalable recycling initiatives.

The launch served as a platform for networking among sustainability advocates, organizations, and key players working to combat plastic waste in the Philippines.

For updates, follow @francephilippinesunitedaction on Facebook and Instagram, or visit www.plasticodyssey.org and @plasticodyssey on social media.