San Agustin Elementary School Turned Over More Than 300 E-Wastes to the Barangay Bagong Silang TSD Facility

In celebration of World Earth Day, San Agustin Elementary School turned over more than 300 pieces of e-waste to the newly established Treatment, Storage, and Disposal (TSD) Facility in Barangay Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. 

Present during the turnover were Antonio de Vera, the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) president; Barangay Kagawad Abi Millar; teachers; and Informal Waste Sector President Eduardo Bernales and Benedict Nario. E-waste turned over consisted mostly of cellphones, television sets, monitors, tablets, laptops, washing machines, printers, electric fans, computer mouses, keyboards, power banks, rice cookers, CPUs, speakers, regulators, and clothing irons. The school earlier organized a two-day collection drive wherein around 300 teachers, students, and parents were able to dispose of their old electronics at the school’s e-waste collection bins. 

San Agustin Elementary School was one of the recipients of SMART and PLDT’s digital tools as an incentive for their community’s effective e-waste management efforts. Additionally, the school also received information, education, and communications (IEC) materials and educational discussions from the Safe PCB and E-Waste Management Project team.

“We are very grateful for the Safe PCB and E-waste Management Project and all its partner organizations for opening our eyes to the harmful effects of e-waste and PCBs, especially to children and women. This is why we started to have an initiative of our own, and we are delighted to see students participating and donating, as well,” said Mr. Randy Tagaan, principal of San Agustin Elementary School.

“More than having an e-waste collection, we also initiated an awareness raising campaign for students, teachers, and parents in order to further motivate them to donate. This is not a one time event; in fact, our school already created a committee dedicated to e-waste to make our efforts sustainable,” he further added.

Expressing support for the initiative, Barangay Bagong Silang’s TSD Manager Dante Lista also stated, “Our TSD facility is very happy to be the chosen beneficiary of San Agustin Elementary School for this event. We believe that more and more people, especially children, should be knowledgeable about the importance of TSD facilities and proper management of e-wastes, and we hope that other institutions will follow suit and do their fair share of mitigating the adverse effects of e-wastes and PCBs even in the simplest ways possible.”