A livelihood association in Claver, Surigao del Norte has been manufacturing useful products from soft plastic wastes.

Organized in 2019, the Panatao Plastic Waste Recycling Association (PPWRA) started making chairs from plastic waste collected from different areas of the town.

The group has gained full support from the Claver local government unit (LGU) and the Taganito THPAL Nickel Corporation (THPAL).

“The THPAL funded the establishment of a plant worth more than PHP20 million, which was turned over to the LGU in 2019,” Mirzi Beth Paqueo, the environmental specialist of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office and the Solid Waste Management Division in-charge of Claver, said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Paqueo said the facility is run and supervised by the PPWRA to produce plastic chairs.

In a separate interview on Tuesday, the group’s president, Allan Ruaya, said the chairs they manufacture are sold to the different public schools in Claver with the support of the THPAL.

“We were marketing these chairs for more than a year until our operation was stopped in 2020 due to the pandemic,” Ruaya said.

He said the group recovered and returned to their operation after more than a year of hiatus.

“We decided to manufacture other household products aside from chairs to expand our market,” Ruaya said.

The group, he added, now produces flower pots, plastic bricks and outdoor tiles, sala sets, and plaques out of plastic waste.

On Monday, the Claver LGU, led by Mayor Georgia Gokiangkee, launched the products of the PPWRA in time with the celebration of Philippine Environment Month. (PNA)