12 August 2025 – High school and college students, along with community-based youth groups, demonstrated their short-video making skills yesterday to raise awareness on healthcare waste during the International Youth Day celebration at De La Salle University, Manila. The event, titled “Mobilize & Ignite: Youth in Action Advancing Sustainable Solutions for the Triple Planetary Crisis Through Innovation and Partnership,” gathered over 100 young people from various schools, organizations, and communities to celebrate their role in protecting the environment. It was organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) with environmental groups BAN Toxics and Clean Air Asia.

Among the activities was the “Solutions Lab: Mobilizing Youth for Healthcare Waste Awareness,” a workshop that tapped participants’ creativity, energy, and social media skills for environmental advocacy. It focused on healthcare waste management, which BAN Toxics calls a “growing environmental and human health concern that is seldom discussed in public discourse.”

The workshop featured discussions on healthcare waste, emphasizing the public’s role in waste minimization, segregation, and awareness-raising on its health and environmental impacts. It also provided an overview of the Philippine Healthcare and Mercury Wastes Management Project, a five-year initiative funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by UNIDO and the DENR–Environmental Management Bureau (DENR–EMB), with BAN Toxics as the executing partner.

Participants included members and officers of the Quezon City Sangguniang Kabataan Federation (SK District 6 and the barangays of Escopa 1, Escopa 4, and Tagumpay), along with students from Bulacan State University, Dr. Yanga’s Colleges, Inc. (DYCI), Philippine State College of Aeronautics, the Ateneo Environmental Science Society, Foundation for the Future from the College of Saint Benilde, and UP Manila. The workshop was facilitated by the Environment Stewards Organization from T’boli National High School in South Cotabato, a long-time partner of BAN Toxics.

After the sessions, participants crafted campaign messages and turned them into entries for an on-the-spot short-video making competition. Out of seven submissions, Foundation for the Future placed third, Bulacan State University second, and DYCI students won first place. The panel of judges was composed of Teddy Monroy, UNIDO Country Representative; Engr. Maria Dorica Naz-Hipe, Assistant Director of the DENR–EMB; Thony Dizon, BAN Toxics Advocacy and Campaign Officer; and Winona Garcia and the BAN Toxics Policy Development and Research Unit.

“The short videos are proof that through active engagement and collaboration, the youth can be powerful environmental advocates,” said Reynaldo San Juan Jr., BAN Toxics Executive Director. “Activities like these show how young people can channel their social media savviness into meaningful content for the environment.”

The workshop also marked the launch of #GenZeroPH, a BAN Toxics initiative to engage youth organizations and institutions in active environmental advocacy and campaigning.

#IYD2025 #UNIDOIgnitesYouth4SDGs #GenZeroPh #HealthcareWasteProject