Creative electric bike using bamboo body shell pushed

A FILIPINO-DESIGNED electric bike brand-named “Banatti” that uses innovative, environmentally sustainable bamboo is seen to elevate the Philippines’ status as a globally known producer of world-class bamboo products.

Speaking in an “Usapang Kawayan” bamboo forum, Christopher Paris Lacson, Banatti EB’s creator, said the trendy motorcycle was just the beginning of a highly promising sector that has the potential to catapult Philippines to industrialization.

“A bike like this can inspire the young, the leaders, the countrymen, and the industries to say ‘Kaya pala yan’ (It can be done!),” said Lacson. “It’s not (just) about making money. It’s about making us proud. We can have our own. We’re creative. We’re smart. We’re intelligent.”

The team that developed Banatti Green Falcon chose to use bamboo as “it is the mandate of the country.”

“This God-given supergrass is one of our tickets out of poverty. When people see a picture of Banatti Green Falcon, it brings an incredible feeling. Something goes on to their mind, something shifts,” said Lacson.

The dream of using bamboo as a jumpoff point for Philippines’ development of rural-based industries is a much practical vision due to the abundance of bamboo in the Philippines, said Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC) vice chairman Deogracias Victor Savellano.

Through his Kilusang 5K (Kawayan: Kalikasan, Kabuhayan, Kaunlaran, Kinabukasan), Savellano has hosted Usapang Kawayan since 2010 to sustain brain storming on bamboo development as envisioned by Executive Order 879.

“If you analyze, kawayan is not like other plants as jatropha that government once asked us to grow. We have taken kawayan. You see it in every barangay, but no one plants,” Savellano said. “That’s why we’re fighting for kawayan. It’s not that we don’t want other plants. But let’s prioritize kawayan because planting it brings results.”

The equivalent of a P20 million worth of farm-to-market project makes for a big expansion in bamboo planting. For one, the 20-hectare plantation project of Kilusang 5K in Karugo, Montalban just costs P1.5 million, even initially.

“What will you plant? The hardwood that you will harvest in 10-20 years, or the bamboo that you can harvest in 3-4 years? And we already have many existing clumps. With the proper management, you can benefit economically immediately.” inspiration from examples like Türkiye’s Zero Waste project, which is spearheaded by the First Lady, Emine Erdoğan, who is also chairperson of his newly-established Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste.

Mrs. Erdoğan in a keynote address noted that all life on earth is connected but industrialization has led to the overconsumption that is polluting the planet. “Humans have created this frightening landscape. But we know that it is in our hands to stop this destruction and save the earth, our common home,” she said, speaking through an interpreter.

“We are obliged as humanity to act at once, and together, because we will either win or lose together in this equation.”

She said that through the Zero Waste Project, some 650 million tons of raw material have been conserved, and four million tons of greenhouse gas emissions were eliminated through recycling.

The First Lady also stressed the need for justice and equality in protecting the planet and combatting climate change. ‘Waste wise’

The head of the UN’s urban development agency,UN-Habitat, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, urged countries to be “waste wise”