Series I of the PET Bottle Recycling Project under the ongoing CAS Waste Management Extension Project successfully met the objectives to deliver (a) three workshop sessions and (b) one culminating activity, through a PET bottle recycling contest. The project constitutes one strategy for educating the Barangay Pineda community members on the crucial and urgent need to act on waste management by teaching them how to upcycle, which is a form of recycling, used PET bottles into attractive and useful living room decors. 

Some simple definitions of Recycling and Upcycling on and around the Web

According to Google, both recycling and upcycling reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills around the world. Also, both activities diminish the need to produce new materials, which means less pollution and carbon emissions arising from  manufacturing. Google further explains that upcycling means to “raise the quality” while recycling means “to keep it on the same level”.

The website of Habitat for Humanity cites the explanation of Hipcycle, a company that sells upcycled products, on the difference between the two: “Recycling takes consumer materials — mostly plastic, paper, metal and glass — and breaks them down so their base materials can be remade into a new consumer product, often of lesser quality. When you upcycle an item, you aren’t breaking down the materials. You may be refashioning it — like cutting a T-shirt into strips of yarn — but it’s still made of the same materials as when you started. Also, the upcycled item is typically better or the same quality as the original.”

Lastly, UpcycleThat.com defines upcycling as the act of taking something no longer in use and giving it a second life and new function. In doing so, the finished product often becomes more practical, valuable and beautiful than what it previously was.

Also known as creative reuse, upcycling involves the process of transforming by-products and waste materials into new items or products considered to be of higher quality in terms of artistic and environmental values, for instance.

Program flow of Series I-PET Bottle Recycling Project: Living Room Decors

The program flow for each one and a half- to two-hour workshop session for Series I included the following:

• Welcome remarks by a barangay official: Mr. Francisco “Frankie” De Leon, Barangay Chairman or Ms. Jana De Leon, Barangay Administrator

• Introductory remarks and 20-minute synchronous lecture on the Circular Economy by Dr. Elizabeth T. Urgel, UA&P-CAS extension project proponent/head and Asia Pacific Studies Department Chair (DC)

Lecture-demonstration on crafting living room decors out of used PET bottles by Mr. Prisando “Sandy” Francisco, multi-awarded Head of the City Environment Office (CENRO) Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), Current Community and Operational Director of SARICYCLING, Volunteer Community Leader of Barangay Pineda Auxiliary Group (PAG),  Coordinator/Liaison Officer of LGBTQ Pineda, and Advisor of the Pure Kwatro Youth Organization of Barangay Pineda.