Waste Market Recyclable Fair

Young as she is at 6 years old, my daughter is already very business minded.  She’s always thinking of ways how to earn an extra buck or two.  This is a trait of hers that I want to nurture, because she can’t live off Daddy & Mommy forever.  She’ll need to spread her own wings some day and I want her to be ready. 

My family and I are very fortunate to be living in a village.  So we regularly get memos/announcements/invitations to village projects, events and activities.  Last March, I came across a flyer about the Waste Market Recyclable Fair.  It was a chance for us to dispose our junk and get paid.  They accepted almost anything and paid for it by the kilo.  My daughter was very excited when I told her about it.  We had a couple of weeks to prepare. So we went around the house and started looking for things we could dispose.  We found old magazines, newspaper, some busted electronics (i.e. lamps, laptop, cordless phone, analog mobile phones, etc.)  plastic bottles, and so on.  Since it was our first time, we had no inkling how it would go and just brought all our junk to the designated venue and had it weighed.  Trash that was not sorted was classified as assorted trash and sold at a measly P1/kg.  Personally, we didn’t “earn” much for 2 carloads of trash.  Anyhow, I just charged that to experience.  Besides, my daughter was very happy to be bringing home a couple of hundred pesos.

To my pleasant surprise, this Waste Fair was actually a quarterly event in the village.  So we were ready for it this time around (June 2015).   As soon as the announcement came, my daughter immediately reminded the maids to start saving trash that could be recycled.  Before long we had empty boxes, tissue paper cores, newspaper, bottles, etc. all sorted out and ready for disposal.  So on our second try, we raised the same amount for half a carload of trash. 

This Waste Market Fair is really something I look forward to. More than just letting my daughter experience how to “earn” real money, it’s also a way for us to recycle.  It’s our little way of giving the earth a chance to breathe.  Yes, I’m still hoping that my children will enjoy a healthy, green earth decades from now and not a dump.  Let’s live sustainably.