Social entrepreneur Wilhelmina “Willie” Garcia is an eco-warrior who has spent a great deal of her life to saving the planet by wielding a silent yet powerful campaign to reduce environmental pollution.
Her business, which is more of an advocacy than a social enterprise, has captured the interest of many groups and companies seeking relevance where sustainability is now a metric for success and acceptability.
“It was a long while before my business came of age. I tried bags and accessories before, but it didn’t take off since everybody’s doing the same stuff. I pivoted to designing and crafting furniture pieces that are niche, hoping to create an impact to the environment, however small or minuscule that contribution may be,” she said.
Junk Not, Garcia’s social enterprise has been upcycling plastic wastes since 2009.
By niche, Garcia meant offsetting plastics pollution, at times over several hundred kilograms of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) for a commissioned project. Through her twined plastic waste, utilitarian pieces of furniture for home, offices and even for schools are crafted in style.
A true model of waste innovation, Junk Not has won several awards from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through the Center for International Trade and Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the MetroBank Foundation and BPI Foundation. It has joined numerous local and international trade fairs and was invited to Paris exhibitions several times.
Corporate partnerships
Multinational companies sought partnership with Junk Not. Global apparel brand Uniqlo had a campaign to utilize fabric trimmings that if left as it is, would otherwise end up as waste. The transformation created an amazing piece of furniture, one that is known as a ‘coral bed’ that a0dorns a Uniqlo store in Nuvali, Laguna.
With the project, Junk Not was able to convert 176.2 kg. of plastic waste, 19 old jeans, 2 kg. of retaso (fabric trimmings) and an old tire into a masterpiece which is also one of the timeless designs the enterprise carries.
Under the Junk Not’s Trash Innovation in Exchange of Upcycling (TIE-UP) program, the enterprise collaborates with companies by allowing them to bring in their waste for upcycling into useful corporate items that the companies are required to buy back.
“While we appreciate donations, we are not a depository of corporate wastes. We want the companies to also do their share, that by limiting their consumption of materials they also limit the impact to the environment,” Garcia said.
Junk Not has worked with Manila Electric Co., transforming used gloves into corporate leather wallets; McDonalds for the upcycling of used chairs into school desks that were donated to a public school; First Gen for a corporate social responsibility (CSR) event the involved employees to gather soft plastic wastes which Junk Not transformed into trophies and company souvenirs.
Junk Not has grown an enduring partnership with First Gen, a renewable energy company, for plastics upscaling.
“Up to now, they still tap us for corporate souvenirs using recycled plastic twines,” Garcia said.
The enterprise has supplied furnitures to Balai Dinawis, Decathlon, Holcim, Lazada, Selah Pods, Tag Resort and Telus International, while a possible partnership with Gardenia to recycle used bread packaging is also in the works.
While Garcia is proud of her partnership with sustainability pushing-companies, she is most proud of the collaboration for the 82nd season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) when Junk Not was tapped to create the medals and trophies for the event.
“I’ve done several trophies but this has the biggest impact of all. We saved 320 kilos of plastic wastes, reused bullets casings from the Marawi war and other metal remnants from the war including door knobs. We used engineered bamboo and Maranao textile plus commissioned the services of Ifugao carver,” she said, recalling that the Marawi War ended in 2018, leaving a huge pile of wasted lives and environmental wastes.
Junk Not has also designed trophies for Ayala Foundation, Ayala Enterprise Circle, BASF, Bayan Academy, British Embassy Manila, Deloit, and a few others.
Preserving traditions
As all her pieces are handcrafted, it takes a while for the enterprise to turn out volumes. Many of her partners suggested she mechanize her operations for faster turnaround.
“But I cannot abandon the women who have been working with me since the very start. I cannot strip them of their livelihood. And the products, which we are really, really proud of, will lose their soul. The hands that craft the twines and put together the furniture pieces are the souls of the products,” Garcia said, adding that mechanization will encourage the enterprise to be profit oriented.
From four women weavers when the program started in 2015, there are now 79 of them who contribute to the pride of Junk Not.
On top of the payment for her weavers, Garcia is also setting aside 5 percent of the proceeds from every commissioned project as community fund for the workers, a honey pot to dip into for community programs that will benefit each and every individual involved in the production process.
Three communities—Balete, Ibaan and Laurel in Batangas—continue to support the twining activities. These communities, living at the base of Taal Volcano have learned the tenets of responsible solid waste management through the efforts of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through a solid waste management program headed by Junk Not.
Garcia recounted that these communities used to throw their wastes to the lake by binding the trash with stones to avoid the same from resurfacing.
Early head start
Garcia came from a family of eco-activists. His father has fought for the environment, for the planet and its inhabitants.
Hers is a big family of farm-to-table entrepreneurs, conservationists and environmentalists. It was during one of the activities organized by her sister and a few friends when she witnessed how the cleanup of an area can be the pollution of another.
“If we allow the wastes to be shed off to the oceans, then what’s the point of all of this. It was such an eye opener that I had the profound sense to create something positive about it,” Garcia said.
From the early days of her college education, she’d known that sustainability is where her path will lead to. Her design plates have gravitated towards green design, an advocacy she has upheld since she graduated from St. Scholastica’s College Manila.
The success of Junk Not created an impetus for Garcia to reach out to critical areas where she can replicate the program, spread consciousness and encourage people to practice ecological protectionism and earn from it.