But since the rice-for-trash program began nearly two years ago, more than 4.3 metric tons (9,400 pounds) of plastic waste have been collected, he added. In turn, 2.6 tons (5,700 pounds) of rice ...

plastic garbage bags, four banana plantation sacks and 16 rice sacks. “It was so bad the plastic was beginning calcification,” he said. “The plastic had been there a long time. The stomach ...