Anna Varona

Background

About Anna Varona

I am a problem solver, fearless in driving unorthodox approaches in campaigns, used to taking the lead and taking the flak if things go awry. I am level headed, I appreciate teamwork and capable of working with people despite differences in opinions. I am the founder of Clean Our Oceans Project, an organization that advocates for the protection of our environment by teaching responsible consumer behaviour and providing solutions to people. Astute at observation, I was able to pinpoint key indicators in the increase of specific plastics and who can start change within a community. Astute at people behaviour, I achieved different demographics to cooperate with our organization to Clean, Dry, Sort and Drop the Plastic. In the span of 4 years we were able to convince people to practice the preparation of consumer plastics for manufacturer readiness. We were collected over 21 tons of CLEAN DRY SORTED Plastics and this was diverted away from the landfills. In our next events, we have expanded our collectibles to paper, used cooking oil, e-waste and small appliances. Why is this remarkable? Considering the behaviour of Filipinos who were enabled by the National Government for more than half a century to simply throw recyclables and treat them as waste, we managed to get their cooperation to prepare their recyclables properly. Consumers collect recyclables, bring them to our assigned Drop off points and they willingly sort their recyclables on site themselves. Throughout the years we've influenced 20 communities in the National Capitol Region to take responsibility with their waste and rethink their consumer behaviour. Each event has an average of 300 participants, 15 youth volunteers, the cooperation of a business organization and 9 barangays/associations. My leadership qualities and vision drives me to create and cultivate a community who remembers kindness and being neighbourly by bringing them together through common advocacies and interests to work towards a common goal. I was also behind the cancellation of OKADAs 150k balloon drop 2018, speaking to them face to face 2 days before the said event. These balloons were processed and turned into hollow blocks. Hope to work with you soon!