When making a big change like losing weight or learning a new skill, it helps to have friends who help us make the shift. In making the big decision to shift to a greener lifestyle, Joanne Laguidao and Maedenne Santiago did it with the help of their whole team.
Inspired by their boss, Ms. Elizabeth Yu, the whole Controllership team of The SM Store started filling in empty Coke bottles with shredded laminated plastics to help build Eco-Bricks with Green Antz.
Green Antz is a social enterprise that creates eco-bricks by mixing wet cement with shredded laminated plastics. It is so simple that everyone can help. All that needs to be done is to fill a plastic bottle with shredded laminated scrap from candies, junk food and any other laminated plastic wrapper.
“At first it really seemed quite challenging. Most of us thought, Where are we even going to get all these plastics?" But then, after a while, we realized that plastic is everywhere.”
Joanna, on how she first reacted when the project was introduced
Taking the First Step
When they first started the project, both Joanna and Maedenne had mixed feelings. While they were excited with this green project, they were also concerned about everyone’s participation.
“Surprisingly, I was able to finish one bottle in less than a month. This only shows how much plastic wastes we consume every single day, from the products that we use in our household to the wastes we produce in the office.”
Maedenne, realizing that it can be done
