BEST sees higher profits

MANILA, Philippines - Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies (BEST), the solid waste management arm of listed mining firm Minerales Industrias Corp. (MIC), expects to double its profits this year.

BEST said it would continue to expand its core business while increasing its exposure in the trash-to-energy conversion business.

MIC sees BEST to breach the P100-million income mark this year compared to  P51 million in 2012 while revenues are seen to hit P380 million, up 80 percent from P212 million last year.

Growth would be driven by new contracts; increased efficiency and integration of existing solid waste management projects; and expansion into energy recovery, said BEST chairperson and CEO Isabelita Paredes Mercado.

“This is by far our biggest year in terms of growth with new contracts and improvements in our operations,” Mercado said, adding that solid waste management industry has good potentials in energy conversion.

“Waste is now seen as a resource not only for recycling but also for generating alternative fuel and renewable energy,” Mercado said.

Last year, BEST partnered with La Farge and Pennies and Pounds to put up a highly mechanized materials recovery and composting plant in Payatas. It collects and sorts trash for conversion into alternative fuel for cement and other industrial factories.

To date, BEST runs two engineered sanitary landfills in Payatas, Quezon City and Morong, Rizal, serving the waste output of Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

BEST is also a shareholder in Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. that owns and operates an engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac, which serves the waste management requirements of Pampanga, Tarlac and nearby provinces.

Last month, MIC transformed itself into a holding firm from being a mining company.

IPM Group of Companies, a major player in the construction industry and the operator of the Payatas landfill, then infused P500 million in new capital to MIC.

Specifically, IPM Construction and Development Corp., IPM Environmental Services Inc. and IPM Realty and Development Corp. put in P350 million, P100 million and P50 million to MIC, respectively.

It allowed MIC to fold in waste management firm BEST for P470 million.

The acquisition of BEST, the country’s largest integrated waste solutions provider, shifted MIC’s focus from mining metals to mining tons of municipal solid waste being collected, processed and recycled into renewable source of energy such as refuse derived fuel.