Feed Your Empty PET Bottles into SM’s New Green Recycling Machines

GR Machines deployed in SM Malls nationwide set to make recycling easy, fun, and rewarding 

 

Your empty PET bottles have somewhere better to go than landfills—and SM is taking them there.

Through the newly-deployed Green Recycling Machines (GR Machines), SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SM Prime) uses the nationwide reach of SM Supermalls to make sustainable action easy, accessible, and rewarding for mallgoers all over the country.

"The GR Machines enrich the SM Group's existing waste management efforts under the SM Green Movement," said SM Supermalls President Steven Tan. "Through the deployment of these machines, we hope to collaborate with our customers in caring for the environment by helping recycle PET bottles whenever they enter their most loved SM Supermalls."

Each GR Machine can be operated with ease by any user and can accept PET bottles up to two liters. Together, the GR Machines nationwide can collectively hold up to 5,000 bottles in one collection cycle, which are compressed in-machine. The compressed PET blocks are then collected and given a second life by SM's hauling partner Sentinel which transforms the blocks into reusable items such as food trays.

Little makes much: Preserving the environment one diverted bottle at a time

According to the World Bank, the Philippines leaks more than 300 million metric tons of plastic waste into the sea annually—equivalent to around 9 percent of its improperly handled plastic waste. The Philippines was also noted as one of East Asia and the Pacific region's top contributors to ocean plastic pollution.

Recognizing that sustainability and protecting the environment is beyond the efforts of one entity, SM has leveraged its presence nationwide through its properties to engage its customers and surrounding communities in maximizing the collection of recyclable,s especially plastics. Through SM Cares, its Corporate Social Responsibility arm, SM empowers communities to adopt sustainable practices through simple and accessible ways to take part in protecting the environment. Arresting the growing issue on pollution, the SM Group has enhanced waste segregation efforts to increase its collection and diversion of plastics from the environment since 2007 with its pioneer program, the Trash to Cash recycling market. 

SM Group's Trash to Cash initiative was organized by SM Cares as the pilot community program that encouraged customers to segregate recyclables like metal, paper, and plastic and exchange these for cash on a monthly basis. SM Supermalls also followed up this effort with the launch of two Reverse Vending Machines in SM Mall of Asia and SM Megamall which empowered customers to segregate aluminum cans and empty PETs in exchange for discounts on sports and leisure attractions. On top of these, SM also hosts nationwide coastal clean-up drives annually through the strength and effort of its workforce volunteers.

With the latest in mobile recycling technology, SM's GR Machines encourage customers to turn good intentions into daily environmentally-conscious actions in three easy steps:

1. Feed any PET bottle up to 2 liters into the machine

2. Confirm your deposit by pressing the prompt on the screen

3. Await your reward

"This is just a glimpse into how SM aims to enrich the Circular Economy through the elevated role we play in integrating seamless waste management efforts, all for Filipinos. We are hopeful that with the addition of the SM GR Machines, our continued partnership with our customers in protecting the environment yields a more sustainable future" said Tan.

Customers can start depositing their plastic bottles in SM GR Machines across the following malls: SM North EDSA, SM City San Lazaro, SM Megamall, SM The Podium, SM Aura, SM Southmall, SM Mall of Asia, S’Maison, SM Seaside City Cebu, and SM Lanang.