In line with their continuing thrust to enable localized and community-based electronic waste (e-waste) management efforts, the Philippines’ leading integrated telecommunications network PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc.  expanded its e-waste advocacy with the launch of an e-waste awareness and collection campaign at the Makati Medical Center. 

The joint campaign promoted, gamified and incentivized e-waste collection among the hospital’s healthcare professionals and workforce, encouraging them to properly dispose of their e-waste at the designated collection site within the hospital grounds. The first run held in December 2023 saw active participation, with 117 kilos of e-waste items collected, including old mobile phones, beepers and headphones, among others.

“As part of doing business responsibly, we are deeply conscious of the negative impacts of e-waste on our health and our environment if they are diverted to our landfills and not properly managed. Sustainability is a shared priority within the MVP group of companies. We are happy to have found a like-minded and proactive partner in MakatiMed, allowing us to expand further our e-waste collections campaign to cover the MakatiMed community and partners, including the physicians, nurses, allied health care professionals, the management staff, among others,” said PLDT and Smart chief sustainability officer Melissa Vergel de Dios.

MakatiMed’s medical director and Interim co-president and CEO, Dr. Saturnino P. Javier, meanwhile, shared how the initiative with PLDT and Smart contributes to their broader organizational agenda for environmental, social and governance performance management, particularly in the areas of waste management and pollution control. “MakatiMed has several initiatives focused on doing business responsibly. This collaboration is a concrete way of raising the MakatiMed community’s awareness of sustainable practices and encouraging them to act and be responsible stewards of people and the planet,” he said.

Narrating how the collaboration resulted from PLDT and Smart’s retail store promotions for e-waste collection, Smart vice president and head for Channel Management Jacqueline Bocalan assured the continuity of a business-aligned approach towards promoting responsible e-waste management.

Further to this collaboration with MakatiMed, PLDT and Smart have activated e-waste collection in their retail stores in SM Megamall, SM North EDSA, SM Mall of Asia, SM Baguio, and at the PLDT Smart Experience Hubs at the Smart Tower and Ramon Cojuangco Building in Makati City.

This collaboration is a concrete way of raising the MakatiMed community’s awareness of sustainable practices and encouraging them to act and be responsible stewards of people and the planet.

The telcos have also continuously expanded e-waste collection activations and integrated them into their employee activities, sales, trade marketing, go-to-market engagements, and strategic partnerships with enterprise customers, schools and commercial establishments.

These activations are reinforced by the umbrella partnership of PLDT and Smart with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources–Environmental Management Bureau, EcoWaste Coalition, and the Integrated Recycling Industries on the project implementation of safe e-waste management, and in support of the global goals on responsible consumption and climate action.

MakatiMed has been the premier hospital in the Philippines for over 50 years, committed to valuing lives and providing premium and personalized healthcare services.

PLDT, Smart and MakatiMed are among the companies under the leadership of business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan.