One fine school day, she was just trying to come up with a relevant topic for a social media campaign in a class she was taking. Several months passed, and that simple class requirement has evolved into a green business, shaping a passionate woman with an advocacy she is to uphold for as long as she lives.

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Allison Laxamana is a 22-year-old University of the Philippines (UP) student. Since her younger years, she has also been modeling whenever her busy schedule permits her to do so.

 

Now, aside from gracing the catwalk, she makes and sells environment-friendly products as alternatives to everyday paraphernalia. This started from a project in her Introduction to Computer Technology class.

 

“I was trying to think of something that I like, and then I remember, in one of my electives in Speech Comm, I had a classmate who said that it was his org-mate daw na nagpatupad noong pag-ban ng styrofoam use in UP,” Laxamana recalled.

 

“And he also said that when you want to become an environmentalist, it could be as simple as not using a plastic straw, because plastic straws pollute our seas. And then when he said that, I was like, ‘oo nga, ‘no.’ I never realized the impact of what a plastic straw could do,” she added.

 

While at a milk tea cafe with her group mates, Laxamana ordered a drink, then asked the server not to seal it and to not provide her a straw. Upon seeing what she did, her friends imitated her and captured a photo of it, which they posted on social media.

 

Her friend’s post then garnered much attention and positive response, which ultimately gave her the idea that there is a need to encourage people to do away with plastic straws. To name the campaign, she came up with “#NoStrawMovement.”

 

The #NoStrawMovement is a social media campaign that encourages people to refuse plastic straws when ordering beverages. The person would take a photo of the drink and write a caption with the said hashtag. Laxamana then compiles all photos in a photo album on her Facebook account. Since its launch in 2016, the album has now acquired almost 2,000 shares.

 

“At first it was just me buying drinks and not getting a straw. And then afterwards, some of my friends started doing it, and then a lot of people started doing it,” Laxamana explained. “It was very overwhelming, the response, because it was such a positive response on something as basic as not getting a plastic straw.”

 

When her friends raised concern that occasionally the movement is hard to adhere to, such as when drinking frappe coffee or shakes, Laxamana thought of an alternative sipping medium. She remembered the metal straws she would always see on the internet. However, only websites based in the United States (US) were selling these straws. She then researched ways on how she could get the product into the country.

 

“Actually, my first venture into the straws was I was going to buy for myself, and then I told people na, hey, if gusto mo sumabay, I can buy for you. And then so many people said that they wanted [it],” Laxamana said. “And then I started researching on how I can parang buy it in bulk, so nakahanap naman ako. I had it shipped here to the Philippines, because we don't make them locally.”

 

Eventually, word spread about the metal straws. To better accommodate buyers and advertise the product, Laxamana put up the Reusable Challenge page on Facebook and created an account for it on Instagram.

 

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“It's basically challenging people to refuse single-use plastic and hence, the word 'reusable,’” she stated.

Each metal straw comes with a cleaner and a pouch in the color of the buyer’s choice. According to Laxamana, she has sold around 500 metal straws.

If given the chance, Laxamana shared that she would also like to venture into bamboo straws. According to her, bamboo straws are even more environment-friendly than metal straws, since bamboos are biodegradable.
 

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Managing a business is never easy, and there are times when the whole thing can get tiresome. In such trying times, Laxamana gets inspiration from people who change their lifestyle to help the environment.

 

“One of my biggest inspirations is when I see people who have absolutely no attachment to the environment, and they actually do steps or take concrete steps, just as simple as not using a plastic straw,” she described. “When I see people like that who are slowly changing their ways, their lifestyle, it gives me a lot of... It helps me, it motivates [me] to continue what we do.”

 

Seeing social media posts about caring for the environment go viral also encourages Laxamana. “Parang pinapaalam nito sa mga tao na kaya siyang gawin, na you can actually do this kung gugustuhin mo.”

 

While she recognizes that there is still much to be done, she commends the simple efforts individuals give to participate in environmental change.

 

“It's really the awareness at an individual level that's important to be able to create policies,” Laxamana expressed. “Like, you could easily write to a department na ipa-ban plastic straws. Pero kung hindi naiintindihan ng tao kung bakit ba kailangan i-ban iyon, hindi magtatagumpay ‘yon.”

 

Solving a massive problem that is the deterioration of Mother Nature, Laxamana is firm in her belief that it is not too late. She believes each person can be instrumental in countering this huge threat to humanity—one just needs to realize their capacity and potential to do so.