MANILA, Philippines – SM Supermalls encourages shoppers to reduce waste and earn money at the same time with its Trash to Cash program.
“Trash to Cash” is SM’s open-to-all recycling market held every first Friday and Saturday of the month at all SM Supermalls. The program allows families to come in with trash like scrap paper and cardboard, empty ink toner cartridges, plastic bottles and scraps, used lead batteries from cars, aluminum, tin cans, and many other items, and take home cash.
Not only are shoppers able to help save the environment by recycling, part of the proceeds will go towards buying trash bins, which will be donated to different public schools, helping to spread the practice of proper waste disposal to youths all over the country.
Launched three years ago, Trash to Cash has already benefited both the community and Mother Earth. It has enabled SM Supermalls to save 29,000 seven-year-old trees, recycled almost 700 tons of waste, and saved as much as 4,311 cubic meters in landfill space. At the same time, it has generated P19 million for those who have traded in their recyclables.
For its efforts to promote recycling, SM was recognized as the “Champion for Re-use/Recycle” by the Zero Basura Olympics (ZBO) during its Earth Day celebration at the SM Mall of Asia Complex. Bestowed by the DENR Secretary Horacio C. Ramos, the award is part of the DENR’s ZBO program, which recognizes best practices in waste management and also gauges companies’ compliance to RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
“Trash to Cash” is just one of a series of ongoing activities by SM to promote eco-friendly living. On June 8, it is hosting one of its biggest activities yet — the third staging of the Leadership Conference Series featuring Former United States Vice President Al Gore, to encourage business to incorporate green practices in its operations.
To be held at the SMX Convention Center at Mall of Asia, Part 3 of the Leadership Conference Series will have Gore present an Asian version of An Inconvenient Truth, the provocative multi-media presentation on the threat of climate change and solutions to global warming and the subject of the movie of the same title, which has won critical and box-office acclaim. The Academy Award-winning film is already considered one of the top documentary films of all time.
Tickets to Leadership Conference Series 3 are now available through TicketNet. For more info, call TicketNet at 911-5555 or e-mail algore-in-manila@smprime.com