PSFI Partners with NKKMA and Green ANTZ Builders

PSFI has tapped the Department of Trade and Industry and Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan to provide technical assistance such as refining business loan applications by NKKMA members so they may qualify for microfinance loans.

A collaboration with Shell Singapore was forged through their Shell Idea Refinery Program, which allotted funds to billionBricks—a social enterprise that provides sustainable structures.

The scalable and replicable designs made available to vulnerable communities, globally, are referred to as “HYDE” structures. A solar powered PowerHyde structure will be piloted in Cagayan de Oro as a livelihood training center for women and the cooperative hub of NKKMA.

PSFI is also implementing its Triple B (Bawas Basura sa Barangay) or Reduce Waste in the Community program to address both waste management and the provision of livelihood for the community through the collection and selling of recyclables. For Cagayan de Oro (CDO), the social innovation for Triple B is the partnership with the local social enterprise Green Antz Builders, Inc., which has the technology to manufacture eco-bricks or hollow blocks out of plastic materials. Waste from the CDO community as well as waste from NMIF and Shell Retail sites (e.g., used lubricants bottles) are processed into building material that can be used for building community structures and for new Shell stations.

PSFI facilitates the partnerships that tie the initiatives together. Excess recyclable plastic from Triple B can also be utilized by Plastic Bank, a global partner of Shell Retail, that directly connects the community with manufacturers that buy recyclables. An eco-brick processing hub will be set up in the community in partnership with the local government and NKKMA.