Trashy bags for export

There’s money in trash! And one community in Pasig City has gone all the way to exporting it to Japan and Europe.

It all began when barangay Ugong won the cleanest and greenest barangay award in a 1999 national competition. The award came with a P1 million cash prize from Malacanang.

Inspired by the award, a group of women called Kababaihan Iisang Layunin Umunlad ang Sambayanan or KILUS mounted a campaign called "Bawas Basura, Dagdag Kita", buying household waste from residents of the community. The recyclable materials such as bottles, paper, and plastic were sold to Linis Ganda, a group led by Narda Camacho. The collectors earned a P75 commission per day while 30% of the earnings went to the KILUS Foundation.

In time, the foundation has been transformed into a multi-purpose cooperative called KILUS Foundation Multi-Purpose Cooperative, which produces products from used doy packs, which are aluminum containers for juice drinks and sauce packages.

Money-maker

The idea of making handbags out of stitched together doy packs came from a business seminar organized by the Development Academy of the Philippines. Cooperative members used a grant from Ugong’s barangay council to attend the seminar.

In August 2001, an initial workforce of 30 began the tedious process of buying doy packs at 20 centavos apiece as well as cleaning, sorting, designing, and sewing the bags. The bags–which have since expanded to include backpacks of different sizes and shapes, coin purses, placemats, folders, and letter holders– were first sold within the community. Soon, environment advocates snapped up the bags and resold them all over the country.

Each worker earned P9 per bag and P40 each for those with more complicated designs. In a week, a sewer could make as much as P2,000.

The cooperative’s big break came when it was invited to the April 2002 international trade fair organized by the Center for International Trade and Exposition Mission. CITEM gave the cooperative a special booth, rent —free.

The first order of 500 bags worth $2,000 came from a Japanese buyer. The recycled bags were a novelty and became an instant hit in Japan. This was followed by orders from Europe and the United States.

A success

Today, the cooperative has 160 worker-members directly involved in the doy pack-turned bag business.

Aside from their weekly earnings, which can reach as high as P5,000, members are also given dividends at the end of the year, equivalent to 30% of total annual earnings. Last year, the cooperative declared a P400,000 dividend.

Since the start of the year, monthly export earnings have been growing from $18,000 in January to $26,000 in April. Export volume is now placed at over 40,000 a month.

In keeping their community clean, the women of barangay Ugong have indeed struck a goldmine. They have combined the goal of keeping their environment clean with success in the global market, proving that free markets can provide opportunity for even the poorest communities.