The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
A YEAR-round exhibition of Philippine products across home and lifestyles, fashion and accessories, traditional arts and crafts, food and beverage, and wellness, reflecting nation’s heritage, creativity, and design excellence dubbed as Likhang Filipino starts to let the public experience the heart of Filipino craftsmanship.
One of the excited participants is the tandem of couple Michelle Bautista-Tañada and Noel Tañada where they showcase upcycled pieces of furniture and other materials showing how they transform waste to worth.
Using plastic rejects, agri-wastes, and even food wastes, the Tañada couple transforms them into sustainable innovations.
Michelle points to this year as the silver anniversary of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. A law establishing a comprehensive framework for managing solid waste ecologically, focusing on waste reduction, recycling, composting, and proper disposal, requiring Local Government Units to create a 10-year plans, form Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), and transition from open dumps to sanitary landfills, while also banning improper waste practices and creating the National Solid Waste Management Commission.
Aside from RA 9003, Republic Act 11898 or The Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022 also requires enterprises to demonstrate measurable, verifiable, and sustained recovery of plastics packaging materials.
“We have been very active in collaborating with different barangays and companies. One successful partnership we have is with Mati in Davao Oriental and have signed Memorandum of Agreement with Light Rail Transit Line 2 to implement the EPR Law”, Michelle explained.
For those who want to see more of upcycled materials made by the Tañada couple, you can visit Exhibition Halls 4 and 5 of the Likhang Filipino Exhibition Hall at the newly renovated CITEM buildings along Roxas Blvd. to see their products and other Filipino global brands.