Mayor Susan Yap of Tarlac City announced a new “palit bigas” (plastic for rice) program that will allow residents to exchange plastic bottles and other recyclables for rice, aiming to ease the city’s mounting garbage problem.
Speaking at her first flag-raising ceremony on July 7, Yap said her administration has partnered with companies willing to collect recyclable materials.
The initiative comes as only ₱109,000 remains of the city’s ₱62-million garbage collection budget, with trash piling up in barangay Aguso due to halted transport to the Urdaneta landfill.
Yap also plans to reopen the Armenia solid waste facility and reactivate materials recovery centers to cut disposal costs and encourage proper waste segregation.
She urged residents to participate in waste reduction efforts and requested help from the provincial government to provide additional garbage trucks.
Source: PhilNews24 | July 8, 2025
