In 1997 a community women’s cooperative was established to ‘green’ the community of Ugong in Manila, the Philippines. They began by instigating a garbage collection and a vegetable, flower and tree planting campaign. Following the success of this campaign, and with a 500 strong membership, the women's cooperative implemented an income-generating project. The members would buy recyclables from local households and resell them for profit to council waste reclamation stations in the city, thereby providing extra income for the households as well as the cooperative's members, increasing community awareness and participation in sustainable waste management practices and improving the local environment.

Barrio Magdaragat was a peaceful fishing village on the shores of Manila Bay, until 1954, when the growing city of Manila began to dump its garbage there. In the decades to come the village became an ecological and human disaster – covering 40 hectares, rising upto 10 storeys high with constantly burning pockets of decaying garbage. The once thriving community – men women and children – forced to make a meagre living by scavenging the piles of disease ridden waste.