Enderun Sustainability Management Rubbish Reborn

From an educator’s deep passion and pure intention to make this world a better place, a system that can effectively solve waste problems and sustain a circular economy was birthed. Rubbish Reborn, the waste management program that was formulated by Enderun College’s Head of the Sustainability Management, Director of Academics, Mhyles DG Oliva, has materialized through the dedication and persistence of three of her BSBA Sustainability Management students, namely Janis Tan, Maria Candava and Victoria Castro. 

With firm faith in themselves and in their objectives, these sustainability warriors earned the top prize in the Planet Protectors Higher Education League at the EDUTech Planet Protector Sustainability Challenge in Marina Bay Sands in Singapore last year.

Recently, Discovering Hospitality sat with this young innovative team to uncover the key elements behind Rubbish Reborn and to know their current status in their award-winning program.

What does the Rubbish Reborn stand for? 

Miss Mhyles: It is the idea that we submitted to EDUTech Asia, explaining how innovation in waste management would be implemented here at Enderun.

Vicky: We separated or segregated our trash into paper, plastic and food waste. For the paper and plastic, we brought them onto our partners, who would recycle them and turn them into new products. While for the food waste, we used Black Soldier Flies to make them into compost and we also gave that to farmers to use for food for their animals. 

Maria: The main idea of the project is amplifying the use of the Circular Economy Model. A Circular Economy Model is basically turning our waste into something useful again, making sure that our waste does not only end up in landfills, but so that it goes back to being consumed again.

Janis: We make sure that all our waste turns into something usable here in Enderun. For example, we have our partner Papel Ni Juan, which we are going to use in our offices and also with the polypro boards, which are upcycled materials from plastics, and then to turn them into furniture that we're going to use here in Enderun.

Where are you now in that plan?

Miss Mhyles: We are already implementing it here. Before we went to the event in Singapore, we were collecting data on the type of waste and the volume of waste that we generate at Enderun to determine the basis of our research. We discovered that most of our waste comes from food waste. We had experimented on the Black Soldier Flies (BSF) to ferment our cafeteria food waste into compost instead of going to the landfill. 

Despite working on it all semester, we couldn’t complete the full life cycle because of the heat wave. Temperatures in March to May hit 40°C, and BSF survival rates dropped fast, so we pivoted to Bokashi instead.

Bokashi is a microbe-based fermentation method that kickstarts composting from food waste. We’ve been using it for six weeks now, and it’s turning out to be more efficient. It handles more food waste than BSF and still fits into the circular economy, as the compost goes to local farmers. 

For the plastic wastes, we are still in the process of solidifying our partnership with the upcyclers, like Trident Paper Manufacturer.

For the paper, we're doing segregation now. In fact, we have already installed some segregation bins in different classrooms. We were there in the collection of the paper. We weighed them so that we would know the significant volume that is feasible for partnership with the paper recyclers and the whole community of Enderun. 

Do you have reinforcement measures to sustain this or to ensure that every student participates?

Maria: So far I don't think we have, but I think we are focusing more on how we're going to work with the students’ behavior. In the classrooms, the trash bins there had no segregation, so now we have installed segregation bins. We don't want to overwhelm the students. 

How long is this program or plan?

Maria: This is a system that we hope to establish in Enderun. During our competition, we actually had a little goal, like in 2027, hopefully most of it is already established. But, of course, we're really hoping that this system is well integrated into Enderun’s system in the future. 

What was your experience like at the EDUTech Planet Protector Sustainability Challenge in Marina Bay Sands? 

Janis: That was so fun! When we were at the airport going to Singapore. I remember picking up a pencil, and when we got to Singapore, we were looking for a pencil to make our prototype. And then I remembered, “Oh wait, I picked up a pencil at the airport. I have a pencil.” So, I figured, maybe this event is ours. Maybe we were the champions. 

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