Soda drinkers are helping address a shortage of classrooms in this town while, at the same time, saving the environment.
Empty plastic bottles are being collected to build a school with eight classrooms at Barangay San Jose. The containers are put together with cement pretty much like bricks.
The collection under the project, dubbed "Plastic Bottles Mo, Kinabukasan Ko" (Your Plastic Bottles, My Future), has so far resulted in the basic structure of the school. The bottles serve as walls of the building with a roof of corrugated iron and concrete posts.
It may well be the prototype of a school that could be a familiar sight in many impoverished villages across the country, said Angelica Jones-Alarva, a project proponent.
The project, unveiled during the birthday party for Alarva's mother Beth Jones at the school ground, is being undertaken in partnership with the Shelter Foundation Inc. headed by Illac Diaz as executive director.
Donations
Every empty plastic bottle of soft drinks donated to the construction site is a tremendous help in building facilities to the nation struggling to provide universal access to basic education, Diaz said.
"Instead of just throwing away empty plastic bottles of soft drinks, which could pollute the environment for 700 years, they should instead be collected and donated to construct school buildings," he said.
Jones said the project was made possible by Mayor Vicente Amante and the city council of San Pablo, which donated the lot for the school.
Laguna Gov. Jeorge ER Ejercito and various private sponsors and donors were also instrumental in the construction of the building, Jones said.
