FOREFRONT Concludes Environmental Training with a Pledge for a Greener Nation

feature article by Divine Grace Agura, Daniela Chua, Ciara Jane Roncales

photos by Carl Rosales (UST-ChES MemDoc)

Now on its 40th year, the UST Chemical Engineering Society (UST-ChES) has extended its span in reaching out to every community apart from the student body. Redefining a student-run organization, it has engaged itself in a number of activities, seminars, and projects that does not only aim to benefit its members, but also the greater community. This year, UST ChES - Community Development Committee aligns its goals in building environmental awareness to individuals outside the university through their community development project, "FOREFRONT: Footsteps towards a Greener Future", a 3-day series of activities and workshops held at North Alliance Triangle, Montalban, Rizal last January 31, February 7, and February 21, 2016. Students, faculty members, and other volunteers participated in the said activity. It was primarily facilitated by its project heads Arun Nanda Kumar, Maria Kassandra Tan, Jeth Abisams, Hazil Magpayo, and Paula Bacani.

A volunteer helping community members make crafts out of recycled goods.

Mr. Anthony Philip Robles

Building Connections

In order to make this event possible, UST-ChES ComDev had partnered with Let’s Do it Philippines represented by Mr. Anthony Philip M. Robles. This non-government organization focuses mainly on solid waste management and leads mass movements nationwide towards a cleaner country. He is also the administrator of SOLA TAG which aims to help people reach their maximum potential through sustainable holistic human development and training systems.

Residents of the community build crafts.

Engr. Noel Sabarillio (right), a ChE Faculty member
assists a community resident. 

“The outside world is just a reflection of man’s inner world,” Mr. Robles said, as he started his series of talks throughout the event. According to him, to fully understand the current situation regarding the environmental status of the country, one must know the value of Mother Earth. He pointed out that we don’t just call our environment “Mother” for nothing and that this endearment denotes for a very personal matter. “What we think, is what we do”, he added.  Apart from these insights, he also mentioned about Garbage in, Garbage out (GIGO) which means that a bad input will lead to bad result and is used to describe failures in decision-making due to faulty or incomplete data. This implies that in order to achieve the goals of projects like solid waste management, information and actions must be practical and correct for efficient garbage disposal.

Mr. Robles being awarded.

Series of Activities 

The 3-day workshop composed of different activities which would widen the horizon of all the participants not only about environmental awareness, but also in building camaraderie with each other, student or resident of the community towards attaining the goals of this community development project.  One of the activities for day 3 is a game which tested decision making and cooperation of the participants. This encouraged volunteers to get to know each other while formulating ways on how to escape from being tangled in handcuffs. This was subsequently followed a group activity which highlighted day 3. Mr. Robles termed this as “Upcycling” or a higher form of recycling wherein things are transformed to have better quality and environmental value.

Residents and volunteers were grouped and were tasked to innovate wastes from the household and the streets. This does not only aim to build interconnection with the community but also to see prospects which would have the potential to alter current products which causes the downfall of the environmental sector. Mr. Anthony gave 5 criteria for the upcycling activity.

• ·      Creativity and resourcefulness
• ·         Quality
• ·         Usefulness
• ·         Sustainability
• ·         Aesthetics

Each group were eager to make the best from their gathered materials. Group 1 turned cans into improvised speakers, plastic bottles into flower pots and used hangers to hang the plastic flower pots. They also used old pitchers as their vase. Group 2 used old newspapers in making a basket and used plastics as the beads of their necklaces and bracelets. Group 3 turned scrap woods into a shoe rack and the old water containers into shoe holder and some accessories for it. They also improvised an old chess board into a cork board. Group 4 used the cups (used by the participants from the lunch earlier) into decorative flowers as well as their old candle holder and glass bottles into vases. They also made a picture frame and pencil holder out of cartons.

Full photo of the participants.

After each group presented their respective outputs, residents of the community, lead by Ms. Zeny Zeny Alzate, chapel coordinator, also discussed their upcoming projects which will involve the residents of the place. These projects include clean up drive and their own environmental organization to which they have proposed names for it. Trash Bins donated by volunteers were also to be allocated to strategic communities. She also added “Itong project na ito ay hindi lang basta basta dahil ito ay isa na nating problema. Ang mangyayari dito ay alam na natin kung ano ang solid waste management pero kung tayo lang ang gagawa, tayong naka-attend sa seminar ay hindi rin natin ito magagawa ng maayos. Kailangan natin ipakalat ito at simulan natin sa ating mga kapitbahay at magkakaroon din tayo ng information drive. Itong proyekto na ito ay mahalaga dahil tayo ang nakikinabang sa lupa. Dahil sa proyekto na ito ay natuto na tayong mag-segregate at ngayon, upcycling. Sana ay maipagpatuloy pa natin ito.”

The chapel coordinator, Zeny Alzate, giving her remarks.

Residents also pledge to continue the advocacy that the community development committee and UST ChES had started and that they would work and encourage other communities to start doing actions towards a greener society.

Hurdling through Obstacles

Although FOREFRONT was a success and ended with a bang, volunteers especially the executive committee and other people involved could not deny the challenges they faced in order to push through with this project. According to Mr. Kumar, the preparation for this project took up an entire semester to complete, with many details needed to be settled such as the schedule of speakers, allocation of budgets and the participation of the members. Up until the last weeks before the first day, many challenges were encountered but these made the organizers more excited and dedicated in continuing the project, all thanks to the professors, the community development committee associates and the partners from Let’s Do It Philippines. “Everyone was tired, but it’s all worth it”, he concluded.