The Marikina City government, through its City Environment Management Office (CEMO) has re-launched its award-winning "Eco Savers" Program.

Marikina City Mayor Del De Guzman said the program is a potent tool in encouraging people’s participation to create an educated, proactive and environmentally sound community.

"Eco Savers is an integral part of the environmental awareness campaign of Marikina and we recognize the valuable contribution of the schools in helping the local government facilitate waste segregation and recycling," De Guzman said.

The Eco Savers program is an essential element of the city's waste management strategy. It was launched in 2001 in partnership with the City Division Schools. Eco Savers not only promotes discipline but also upholds social and environmental responsibility among the youth, specifically public elementary and high school students, through ecological solid waste management.

The program involves a simple process wherein students bring their recyclable household wastes such as old newspapers and soft drink cans and bottles to designated receiving areas. These are weighed and the corresponding points earned are recorded in a passbook assigned to each student. One point is equivalent to one peso. The accumulated points are then tallied at the end of the year.

Accumulated points may be exchanged for foodstuffs or school supplies.

The program deliberately shuns monetary incentives to ensure that the points saved will directly contribute to the education or sustenance of Eco-Savers.

“Through this advocacy, the residents are taught at an early age how to be conscious of their day to day activities such as proper disposal of garbage at home that greatly affects the environment," De Guzman said.

The Eco-Savers program is an environmental awareness advocacy of the city government that aims to inculcate the importance of waste segregation among residents and recycling among students. Since its inception in 2004, the project has already tapped some 180,000 students from 17 public elementary schools in Marikina. In 2007, it won the prestigious Gawad Galing Pook Award.