Repurposing Trash: Students Learn the Value of Upcycling

Elementary students from Santiago Sur Integrated School participated on an upcycling journey, turning discarded clothes and plastic wrappers into rugs and wallets.
The activity, aimed to instill to the students a better understanding and appreciation of the importance of waste management through upcycling.

For many of the students, the experience was not only insightful. โ€œ๐พ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘ฆ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘›๐‘”๐‘Ž ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž, ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘œ ๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘Ž ๐‘ก๐‘– โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘ขโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฆโ€ The ocean needs to be clean so the fishes will not die and (our parents) have livelihood, shared one of the students.

At the end of the activity the students showcased their end products โ€“ wallets, rugs and pot holders. The upcycling activity also sparked a wave of creativity among the young participants, as some students playfully transformed old clothes into fashion items and hair accessories.

In his closing remark, Mr. Owen Fonbuena, Caba Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer (MENRO), reminded the participants, โ€œ๐ท๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘œ, ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘›๐‘”๐‘Ž ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘ฆ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘˜๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™, ๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘ฆ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘”, ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘ฆ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆโ€ (Our garbage might go to water ducts and go to the rivers and eventually end up in our oceans).

Through the upcycling activity children are not only learning about the importance of environmental stewardship but also leading by example, demonstrating that with a little creativity and determination, garbage can be repurposed โ€” turning it into anything our imagination conceives. This serves as a reminder of the impact that small actions can have on creating a greener, more sustainable future.

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The Upcycling activity at Santiago Sur Integrated School is one of the activities of the "๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—š๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐—š๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐— ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐—ถ-๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—™๐— ๐—” ๐Ÿฒ, ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ช๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฃ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ" implemented by the Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation under the INSPIRE Project.

๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—œ๐—ก๐—ฆ๐—ฃ๐—œ๐—ฅ๐—˜ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜
Investing in Sustainability and Partnership for Inclusive Growth and Regenerative Ecosystems (INSPIRE) is a five-year grant facility of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that aims to improve natural resource resilience and security through the increased participation and engagement of civil society organizations (CSOs), media, academe, and local communities. It envisions to expand civil society participation and influence in natural resource governance for greater accountability and better results and complementation of local conservation and climate change mitigation actions. The Gerry Roxas Foundation (GRF) is the lead implementing partner for INSPIRE.

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