REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Everyone knows how important food consumption is to an individual. Without food, one
may get totally insane and may revert to destroying people’s lives, including their own.
As our country continue to battle with the worsening poverty problems and non-stop
increase in oil and fuel prices, many Filipinos today rely on wood charcoal for cooking to
save money. Metro Cebu, with its four (4) cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and
Talisay; and six (6) municipalities of Compostela, Lilo-an, Consolacion, Cordova,
Minglanilia and Naga; has an average of about 2,000,000 in population as of 2001. It
has an approximate total land area of 79,209 hectares making it the second gateway
and the second largest urban area in the Philippines. With a rapid growing population
and increasing urbanization, Metro Cebu is a great business spot.

This is true for small-time food entrepreneurs like owners of barbecue stalls since Cebu
is already synonymous to the word “barbecue”. The booming barbecue industry in Cebu
uses mostly, if not all, wood charcoal as their main source of heat in cooking. Also,
based on a 1994 study, three fourths of low-income households in Metro Cebu rely on
charcoal as their primary cooking fuel and over 80% in the highest-income category use
LPG (Sueycloe, 2012). Ramon Magsaysay Elementary School is one of OISCA CFP
supported school. CFP has provided the school with training on environmental
protection and proper waste disposal. The school observes segregation of school trash
and applies the environmental principles of 3Rs (Re-use, Reduce, Recycle). The school
has encouraged the use of paper charcoals made from used paper products which they
have learned from OISCA. The children also applied in their homes what they have
learned from the trainings and environmental education provided by OISCA (OISCA,
2012).

MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES

Production of Paper Charcoals is very easy and can be made by every household. The
materials that you will need to make Paper Charcoal are easily available. You will need
waste papers. Newspapers or any old papers are preferable while the glossy ones are
not. You will also need a container where you will soak your waste papers in water. A
basin or washtub will do. Here are the procedures in making Paper Charcoal: First,
gather the waste papers and tear them into pieces about the size of your hand or
smaller. Place all the torn waste papers into the basin or washtub. Fill it with water and
leave for at least an hour. The paper will be ready when it is thoroughly saturated with
water and is mushy to the touch. Next, grab a large handful of the mushy paper. Form it
into a ball about the size of a golf ball or ping pong ball, squeezing out as much water
as you can. Repeat until all the mushy paper is in ball form. Discard the water. And
lastly, place the wet paper balls in the sun for at least two days. Do not let them get
rained on. They must be completely dry and brittle. At this point, they are ready for use
in the same manner as charcoal briquettes.
1

1
https://studymoose.com/paper-charcoal-essay