Filipino Students Make Giant QR Code From Mace Masks in Wake of COVID-19

In the first quarter of 2020, a group of students from the Philippines teamed up with QR TIGER, a QR code generator company, to make a giant QR code fashioned from face masks to remind people and address issues and concerns involving front-line staff and the environment affect to the world.

As the total Coronavirus cases approached 21 million in August 2020, the need to wear protective gear such as face masks escalated.

However, with different preventive measures implemented by the government, people tend to take these measures for granted.

Some people continue to disregard guidelines on the proper use and disposal of face masks and other protective gear.

To environmentalists, this is an alarming situation as the production and demand for face masks and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) doubles.

Face masks and PPE contain non-biodegradable materials such as polypropylene.

If there is no proper waste management, it will continue to pollute our oceans and lands and increase the risks of being infected with COVID-19.

In order to grab people’s attention, a group of students from Dipolog City, Philippines, have taken a life-changing initiative.

Their main goal is to inform people about the front liners’ sacrifices and the environmental issues that COVID-19 presents.

To learn about this leap of faith, here is how they embark on an unconventional journey.

The Call for Help

“A goal without a plan is just a wish”- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

As the students needed help in realizing this goal, different awareness campaign suggestions were made.

By considering the pros and cons of these, they carefully narrowed down the possibilities of launching the campaign. After careful consideration, they choose to pull off an unusual awareness campaign.

As they are planning to pull off an unconventional awareness campaign, a campaign with QR codes becomes their approach.

To realize this, they contacted different QR code generator companies that could help their project become a reality.

After numerous contacts were made, one company reached out and offered them a dynamic QR code generation free of charge.

Thanks to QR TIGER, the students were relieved of their doubts and started to gather the necessary resources.

QR TIGER is a free QR code generator that lets users create custom static (free) and dynamic (paid) QR codes.

Once they had gathered enough resources, they then continued planning the next steps of their activity.

They then listed important things such as resource materials for their message of awareness and execution of their idea.

After some debate, the idea they came up with was to make a giant QR code on the sand made of face masks.

Realizing the initiatives with the help of a giant QR code generator

To realize the plan, the students went to a beach in Tag-Ulo, Dapitan City, and then proceeded to carry out their plan.

By helping each other in building a giant QR code made from face masks, locals redirect their attention to them.

Curious as they can be, questions about how they came up with a QR code-powered campaign are raised.

As the students’ concerns are about the front liners and environment, they proceed in educating them. With every piece of information they share, they can make the locals realize the importance of front liners to us.

With a total of 194,000,000,000 estimated uses of face masks at the end of 2020, only 1% of the total amount is properly disposed of.

Considering these figures, the students start to take their cause to the residents and educate them on how to properly wear and dispose of their face masks.

They then continued their giant QR code building. As they are putting the remaining face masks for the QR code together, they realize the importance of disseminating this campaign to the locals of their province.

After they made the giant QR code, they tested it to see if the QR code worked.

The code, when scanned, will automatically direct them to the DOH-PH landing page.

This way, they can be updated on the COVID-19 update and learn the proper ways how to keep themselves safe.

By snapping a photo of their giant QR code, they made a poster of their QR code and posted it to places where people would easily notice it.

In the Philippines setup, places such as parks, boulevards, and churches, as well as public transportation such as busses s and ‘pedicabs’ became their poster sites.

As the campaign is just an instrument to inform the public about what is happening today, they knew their efforts would not go to waste.

Results

A day after they posted their poster, the number of scans increased to 1,000.

By these figures alone, the students then realized the power of QR codes on masks and how it helps hasten the spread of information.

They concluded that the awareness struck the public’s curiosity and made them want to join the movement. Thanks to the advent of QR codes, they can spread awareness to people without directly risking their lives.

The reason for the implementation of QR code face mask

The pandemic is a reminder of how ill our planet is. With unregulated waste disposal, the spread of the virus continues to skyrocket.

The environment is in danger because of the demand for using face masks and even using QR codes on PPE kits in the ‘new normal’ set-up to gather important information.

As the pandemic continues, medical and essential workers risk their lives to battle the invisible foe.

However much they advise us to stay at home and wear a mask for safety, people ignore the advice and continue the contamination.

To serve as a reminder for all, the students initiated an eye-catching activity on the beach.

In solidarity with the giant QR code generator

With the help of QR TIGER, a QR code generator online, they put a QR code-shaped face mask on the sand.

By choosing the beach as their location in executing their action, the students yearned for the paradise we people enjoyed before the crisis erupted.

QR codes have the power to share information with a few taps.

They can quickly share pertinent issues such as environmental or humanitarian concerns.

Just like what the students did, they see the potential of how QR codes can drive change in communities.

As they partner with a QR code generator company, QR TIGER, their take on delivering a creative and innovative awareness campaign reached thousands of individuals within a day.

With the power of advanced technology, the acceleration of instilling humanitarian and environmental awareness in people is possible.