This New Year
is the perfect time to turn the trash lying around your home into cash!
The holiday
season is the busiest time of the year for Filipinos. It is also a period
wherein trash can accumulate easily as a result of various activities linked to
the season’s celebrations.
Knowing this,
SM is encouraging Filipinos to observe responsible solid waste management as
they welcome 2021 via the Trash-to-Cash recycling program.
SM City Puerto
Princesa calls for nearby communities to bring in their plastic bottles, scrap
paper, cardboard, and cookware at the recycling market along Lacao Street, Bgy.
San Miguel happening this January 8-9 from 10 AM to 2 PM.
Trash-to-Cash
is SM’s long-running environmental initiative aimed at educating the community
to recycle, dispose of their trash properly, and earn in the process. Launched
in 2007, the program is part of the company’s efforts in compliance with
Republic Act No. 9003, also known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management
Program.
SM’s recycling
market happens every first Friday and Saturday of the month from 10:00 AM to
2:00 PM. Participants in the program can find the market in designated areas
across all SM Supermalls in the country, as well as in five SMDC Residences –
Jazz, Light, Mezza, M Place, and Sun.
Under the
program, SM also involves its partner tenants. Part of this is the buyout of
their used cooking oil, which also complies with government policies on the
responsible disposal of hazardous waste, as well as encouraging them to dispose
of their unusable or broken lightbulbs through the program, to name a few.
Since its
launch, Trash-to-Cash has enabled the proper disposal of millions of tonnes of
solid waste. In 2019 alone, the program diverted a total of 9,910,004 kg. of
paper, plastic, glass, metal, and other types of waste material from landfills.
An estimated 83,418,598 kgs of waste have also been turned over in the
program’s 13-year run.
A majority of
the items transacted at the market are paper products. Data from 2015 to 2019
show that the paper recycled through the company’s solid waste management efforts,
including Trash-to-Cash, has saved 410,691 seven-year-old trees. About
2,514,926 kgs of paper have been recycled since its launch.
“A lot of us
don’t notice it, but during the holidays, we produce more trash than we do any
other time of the year, from the plastic bags and boxes that we take home after
shopping, to the wrapping paper that we crumple after opening gifts on
Christmas Day,” said Engr. Liza B. Silerio, SM’s Vice President on Corporate
Compliance and Head of SM Sustainability and Environment Program.
“As we start
thinking of what gifts to buy for our loved ones, this is the perfect time to
also remember our collective responsibility to the environment. Being
eco-responsible is the best gift that we can ever give to Mother Nature this
holiday season, which is why we urge everyone to look at sustainable ways to
get rid of their solid waste, such as our Trash-to-Cash market,” Silerio said.
SM Cares is
the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Supermalls, which spearheads
programs focusing on social inclusion and care for the environment. In addition
to its eco-centric programs, SM Cares’ advocacies include programs on women and
breastfeeding mothers, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and children
and youth. Learn more at www.smsupermalls.com/smcares. (PR)
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