Fifty out-of-school youth of Barangay Buntatala, Leganes, Iloilo learned how to make accessories out of recycled paper during a three-day training conducted by the Solid Waste Management (SWM) of the Environment Management Bureau 6 (EMB-6) last week.

The free training was initiated by the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) because they want their fellow youth to learn how to convert garbage into useful materials as their livelihood as well as support the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 or commonly known as Republic Act 9003.

"As youth leaders, we want to promote values formation, knowledge, and skills among our fellow youth and teach them to incorporate ecological waste management in their daily activities. We hope that this becomes a beneficial habit among them," SK Chairman Jayson Pudadera.

Pudadera added that they want to be the youth's model in recycling and recovery practices as well as become a pioneering agent for similar initiatives in the other villages of Leganes.

At the end of the training, participants were knowledgeable in converting paper into beads and beads into earrings, bracelets and rosaries.

Training instructor SWM chief Immaculate Juntarciego said the skills they taught will help participants organize livelihood projects, thereby boosting the morale of waste reclaimers, recyclers and those who are interesting in converting waste into materials for livelihood projects.

"We want the Local Government Units (LGUs) to strengthen their information dissemination towards waste reduction through the cooperation of different sectors of the community," she said.

Juntarciego is hopeful that the trained participants can become future trainors to others.*