THE BANTAY Dagat-Davao in partnership with Kiwanis Southern Philippine District 7th division installed a metal materials recovery facility designed to look like a fish at The Mangroves, Davao City Coastal Road to promote waste management.
Raffy Bermejo, Kiwanis Division 7 Lieutenant governor and Bantay Dagat head, said the giant fish-shaped plastic waste receptacle is the first of its kind in the city if not the country.
“The waste bin is in line with the initiative of Kiwanis and Bantay Dagat for sustainable and responsible tourism while protecting our environment, especially the ocean,” Bermejo told TIMES.
He added the bin is shaped like a fish to entice the children to observe proper plastic waste management. Once the bin is filled up, the group will invite youth organizations in the city to conduct a ceremonial waste collection.
The ceremonial turnover of the waste bin on April 20 at the Mangroves Davao, a resort here, is in observance of World Earth Day.
Bearing the slogan “Feed me, not the ocean,” the waste bin is the creative approach of the group to collect single-use plastics and bottles at the source.
The Mangroves Davao, a member company of the Al-ag group of Companies, funded the fabrication of the receptacle.
Bermejo shared they will lobby the program to the city council for crafting additional sea creature-shaped receptacles and place them in various parks, resorts, and places of convergence.
The bin’s skeleton is made of metal and covered with net mesh. It has a capacity reaching about 40-50 kilograms of plastic.
The plastic collected in the bin will be delivered to the material recovery facility in Daliao, Toril District in the city for transforming the shredded plastic into eco-friendly hollow blocks.
“This project is to augment the collection of plastic and to produce more hollow blocks which in turn income generated will go back for the facility’s enhancement,” Bermejo said.
Every five kilos of shredded plastic when mixed with one sack of cement produces up to 90 pieces of four-inch hollow blocks which can be sold for P13 each.
“It demonstrates how waste management can be engaging and enjoyable, while simultaneously preserving our precious natural environment,” The Mangroves said in a Facebook post.
Kiwanis and Bantay Dagat also planted 200 mangrove trees on the coastline of The Mangroves Davao.
