The recent typhoon “Carina” exposed the numerous pieces of trash people improperly disposed of, resulting to the clogging of waterways in the streets and causing waist-deep floods.

Climate change worsens as carbon emissions are produced from manufacturing massive volumes of plastics and other packaging materials.

To prevent the worst impacts of natural phenomena and protect the environment, Marilyn Balais, operations manager of Trash to Cashback by Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies Inc. (BEST), aims to expand this recycling program from Metro Manila to Visayas and Mindanao.

The Trash to Cashback program encourages individuals, local government units, and businesses to separate recyclables from other trash, bring them to collection centers in their cities and barangays, and gain monetary rewards deposited in virtual cards.

BEST then transports the recyclables like paper, plastic, metal and glass into recycling facilities to turn the waste into new products like furniture.

“We give cashback to eco warriors or recyclables contributors. We have virtual or plastic cards that contain environmental points that can be exchanged for grocery, Lazada vouchers, or Bayad credits,” Balais said.

“The higher the segregation level, the higher points we give. One environmental point is equivalent to P1,” Balais said.

However, she said there are other factors for computing the reward.

“Some materials are costlier or have higher inherent value. For example, metals have higher value than paper materials,” Balais said.

Since the program was launched in 2021, BEST now has 54 drop-off points which are mostly in Metro Manila and 10 cities working with its team to implement the recycling program.

Meanwhile, there are 37,000 eco-warriors, four recycling partners.

“One of the requirements is that the materials should be clean, but we still accept unclean ones. We have partner institutions that do the cleaning and drying,” Balais said.

More recycling facilities

“Since the start of the program in 2021, we have collected around 4 million kilos of recyclables. We’re planning to expand in Visayas and Mindanao,” Balais said.

While BEST has drop-off centers in Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro in Visayas, Balais said the program is mostly implemented in Metro Manila due to lack of recycling facilities in the provinces.

To promote funding for these facilities and increase awareness of Filipinos on recycling, Balais said BEST conducts seminars with the private and public sector.

“We also have partnerships with the private sector which adopts the program into their corporate social responsibility programs,” Balais said.

“We have webinars and face-to-face sessions to teach them how to segregate properly. We also enroll employees into the program for either daily or weekly waste collections in their locations,” she added.

Big corporate partners

Among BEST partners are Coca-Cola Philippines and Ajinomoto Philippines. On the public sector, BEST is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“Our ideal setup is with local government units. We have a partnership with Quezon City.

“We have five days available for dropping off of recyclable materials at the City Hall, but all throughout the month, we have pop-up centers in each barangay,” Balais said.

“For companies, it is limited because they can only reach people within their offices,” she added.

BEST is also working with the World Wildlife Fund Philippines to teach port personnel how to segregate waste at the ports all over the country.

Idea’s origin

Balais said the Trash to Cashback program was an initiative of BEST’s senior vice president who had the idea while Filipinos were under Covid lockdowns.

“We saw the need because there was an accumulation of waste as most people were inside their homes. Some of the waste is recyclables and can be recovered for other materials,” she shared.

According to the DENR, 24 percent of the country’s more than 61,000 million metric tons of waste comes from plastics.

The country produces 163 million sachets, 48 million shopping bags, and 45 million thin-film bags daily, DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga reported. Thirty-three percent of them pile up in landfills while 35 percent float in the ocean.

According to the World Economic Forum, plastics account for 4.5 percent of global carbon emissions.