The members of Team Ingenuineers introduce their Sari-SaRefill Store projectTEAM ISLA and Team Ingenuineers came up with winning climate action projects in the First Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPH) Community Challenge division of First Gen’s “Ideathon 2021: Innovate for the Climate.”

The teams’ projects promote collaboration among colleagues and targeted communities as they align their efforts with FPH’s mission of a regenerative future.

Team ISLA

Team ISLA is composed of former thesis partners Clowee Anne Licsi, a data scientist from First Gen, and Hannah Mary Saltarin, an analyst at Energy Development Corporation. Their Project Integrated Solutions for Livelihood Augmentation (ISLA) aims to address the challenges of San Salvador, Masinloc, Zambales, which experiences extended periods of water scarcity and frequent disruption of power lines.

Team ISLA piloted the project to at least 15 island residents in late 2022. The project components include a rainwater and solar power harvesting facility that can store a month’s supply of potable water, with a solarpowered lighting fixture and charging ports.

The surplus water and power will be sold to other community members at an affordable rate, with revenues to be used to maintain the facility; knowledge- and capacity-building sessions will be conducted to scale up the project to other households.

“After the pilot, the shortterm plan is to increase the number of systems deployed on the island. … Long-term goal is to replicate/improve the systems deployed on other PH islands with our existing and future partners,” said Saltarin.

First Gen CSR, Waves for Water and Sikat Solar Foundation mentored Team ISLA.

Team Ingenuineers

Aside from being a Top Climate Innovator in the Knowledge and Capacity Development-FPH Challenge category, Team Ingenuineers also won the Climate Ambassador’s Choice Award.

Members Louis Samonte, Ana Ordiales, Limuel Banaag, Riana Ortega and Ronna Bautista are all part of First Balfour’s junior management training program.

Their Sari-SaRefill Store project aims to raise awareness about the effect of single-use plastics, reduce plastic waste among employees and workers, and replicate the program in their chosen community.

The concept of the SariSaRefill Store is a refilling station offering basic hygiene products that are normally sold in sachets. Team Ingenuineers implemented the pilot SariSaRefill Store in one of First Balfour’s biggest project sites in Ormoc City, which happens to have a no-plastic ordinance.

“We hope to see the store as something that the employees and workers in our projects will be able to sustain as part of the project team’s initiatives and engagement. The company will also try to see if this could be implemented in other project sites and in the future be a possible livelihood for our employees, workers and their families,” Team Ingenuineers said.

After several months of planning, consultations with the community, and sourcing items, Sari-SaRefill Store was launched in late 2022.

Team Ingenuineers hopes to encourage employees, workers and families to reduce plastic waste through refilling and reusing plastic containers, and to empower more stores in the area to shift from selling singleuse plastic items and become refilling stations. Serving as Team Ingenuineers mentors were Aimee Oliveros of The Climate Reality Project Philippines, Dapig Kinaiyahan and First Gen CSR.

Team ISLA with some of the Project ISLA beneficiaries