VIDEO: By the WOODEN BOX MAKERS of TAGOLOAN

At least some of us think about how, for example, the tomatoes get from the tomato farmers’ fields to the greengrocers and the markets. There are wooden tomato crates of a standardised size so that the goods do not have to be weighed. They are filled and nailed shut. Waste wood from sawing construction timber from whole logs is used for this.

We drive to the timber yards in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao, Philippines. There, beams and boards are sawn from Gmelina and Falcata logs with band saws.

Some of the waste wood is used to make tomato crates, banana crates and other wooden boxes. Whole families work here on a piecework basis to earn their living. The men stand at the band saws and the women and sometimes young people make the wooden boxes from cut boards.

VIDEO (9:10) by Philippine Magazine