A Filipina interior designer uses her talent to turn plastic bags into furniture and help advocate plastic recycling.
Plastic waste is a global problem. In the Philippines, interior designer Wilhelmina Samonte Garcia puts her talent in the service of sustainability, turning plastic waste into contemporary signature home furnishings and decor. Junk Not!, a social enterprise, collaborates with women in communities, providing them with income and inspiring them to become recycling advocates.
Wilhelmina grew up on a self-sustaining farm, surrounded by eco-activists. Her father was one of them, and their house was often filled with like-minded people. Her love for nature and its protection has been a key thread in her life and career path.
While in college, Wilhelmina began to blend her two passions: art and nature. After a year of employment, Wilhelmina’s career took a turn as her mom became sick, needing regular dialysis. “I have been a caregiver for 17 years,” Wilhelmina said.
Her difficult circumstances did not prevent her from pursuing her dual passions. “I always created my own materials, like wallpaper made of agricultural waste or fossilized leaves. “My office has been the dialysis center,” she said, smiling, recalling that she used to meet clients and suppliers at the hospital.
In 2007, she passed the Board exam as an interior designer. She entered the Metrobank Art & Design Excellence competition and won the cash prize, which she swiftly invested in second-hand machinery to set up her furniture shop. She registered Junk Not! in 2009.
Upcycled plastic bags turned into chairs
In 2008, when Wilhelmina and one of her sisters, a conservationist, organized a coastal cleanup, she realized there was no plan for the collected waste. “That cleaning was like the impetus for me to really experiment with how to reuse these materials.”
She started with bags and fashion accessories, “but I soon realized that this was not my niche because I am not a fashion designer; I am an interior designer,” she said. She noted that most communities were already producing bags from waste materials, and she began experimenting with furniture.
Her first project was with her brother, another sibling involved in sustainability. Using plastic waste, she manufactured chairs for the farm-to-table restaurant in Davao City. “It was the first time people saw chairs made out of plastic waste material,” she recalled, adding that she managed the collection, twining, and manufacture of the chairs.
Community project for displaced population
In 2015, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources commissioned Wilhelmina for a livelihood program in Taal Volcano area. The goal was to involve women from the community in her recycling project. She taught women how to segregate their household waste, keep all the plastic waste, and twine it manually. Junk Not! would then buy the resulting product. The project started slowly, but more women kept joining.
All the soft plastic is eligible, she said, from plastic bags to food packaging, wrappers, soap and milk packaging. Because the plastic does not come from a dump, the women only need to wash and dry it before cutting it into threads and twining them. Since 2015, the community has transformed 4 metric tons of plastic waste.
After the eruption of Taal Volcano in 2020, families living in the vicinity were displaced to different communities in Batangas province. The income from Junk Not! remains the primary livelihood for the displaced women, whose previous jobs were as tour or bird guides at Taal Volcano. She now works with 97 women in three communities.
The company manufactures all the furniture in its shop, staffed with 10 weavers, carpenters, painters, and administrative staff.
“The proudest achievement of Junk Not!,” she said, “is really the community transformation, because they don’t dump their waste anymore in the lake or burn it.”
Circular approach serving corporate social responsibility
Recycling plastic or other materials does not mean that Junk Not! should serve as a dump site, Wilhelmina said. “I refuse to accept [their waste] unless they buy back the finished products, so it is a circular approach.”
When she started her “Trash Innovation and Exchange of Upcycling” initiative, she wanted Junk Not! to collaborate with the companies as a waste diverter. The finished products include corporate giveaways, trophies, or a chair that they can display in their lobby as a result of their sustainability efforts, she explained.
Junk Not! is also recycling fabric. “Some of the companies provide us with old uniforms that we turn into backpacks that they can donate to public schools.” The project, which started in 2025, is gaining popularity among companies as it supports their corporate social responsibility programs, according to Wilhelmina.
Another company participating in the Trash Innovation and Exchange of Upcycling initiative turned old uniforms into blankets, which were then donated to typhoon victims. Some companies donate old fabric to be turned into trophies. Clients in Singapore use the trophies for their environmental, social, and governance awards or ASEAN prestige awards. The recent Filipino law on Extended Producer Responsibility, mandating that companies track their plastic footprint, is also pushing them to find solutions for their waste. “I provide them with impact certificates specifying how much plastic waste or how many old clothes have been used for every project.” “It is really a win-win collaboration,” she said.
Redesigning standards for trophies
Trophies are the company's bread and butter, she said, as they gained popularity. “It is like redesigning the standards of the trophy makers.” A more impactful trophy with a story behind it appeals to her customers, most of whom are resorts, hotels, and national and multinational companies. “I can use their plastic or fabric waste for their chairs.” Each chair can represent 15 kilos of plastic waste. Her furniture bestseller is the Anak ng Tupa collection, dedicated to the sheep on the Garcia farm that died from eating plastic waste while grazing.
Most furniture customers are local because of logistics costs, although Wilhelmina has attended Paris Design Week for three years and keeps some pieces at Rue Rangoli, an upcycling shop in Paris. Profit remains her largest challenge, and she routinely attends exhibitions to showcase and sell her products. The Department of Science and Technology tested and confirmed the durability of her furniture. She is also a member of Business Network International, which helps her market her products and services.
Small items are available at some eco-shops in the Philippines.
Expanding Junk Not! Reach and Spirit
Wilhelmina is determined to expand her business, particularly through social franchising in the Philippines and beyond. Attending the WIPO IP clinic and one-on-one mentoring helped her get a clearer vision of her franchising project and how to protect her assets. Alert to the importance of IP since the start of her operation, she registered a trademark for her logo, a utility model for the twining, and some industrial designs with the help of IPOPHL. She hopes to protect all of her designs.
