STA. BARBARA–The idea of making coffins from recycled paper sounds quite strange, but it is environment-friendly and could prove to be one project that will generate jobs for the poor – and benefit the poor.

“They already made this possible in San Juan through the Soroptimist International through their Bags for Life so I believe this is feasible too for coffins,” said P/Supt. Eric Noble, the town police chief who coordinated the project.

The project, which involves a six-day training program, is organized by the local police in cooperation with the local government, the federation of non-government organizations here and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).

Aside from coffins, the training will cover production of bags and slippers, also using recycled paper.

The target participants are women, out of school youths (OSY) and persons with disabilities (PWD).

“It aims to create a productive ‘work-at-home’ export industry using recycled paper wastes,” said NAPC Commissioner Deanna Lorenzana Gregorio.

Noble said the police could help in marketing the products, particularly the coffins, by offering these as an option to families of accident and crime victims.

“In responding to accidents, we are the first to know the fatalities and we help the families contact funeral parlors,” he said.

“We will not compete with (funeral parlors) but we will just provide people, particularly the poor, the opportunity to buy a very affordable coffin,” he added.

An ordinary coffin easily costs P10,000 while a coffin made out of paper mache’ would only cost P1,000.

Noble plans to set up a cooperative to include members of the police force.

The initial funding for the project is sourced from the money raised by the police during their Alay Lakad project last September 30.

The idea of coffins made from recycled paper is based on a concept paper submitted by the Far Eastern University in Manila that won an online recycling contest among schools.#

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