Community, Events, Markets and Stalls, Shopping, Social Responsibility

Trash into cash - SM Supermalls’ Waste Market

Most of my rainy days are spent at home doing, ehem, �home improvement.� This pretty much translates to cleaning my house by wading through years of accumulated stuff and throwing out all the kalat. Or at least that�s how it�s supposed to be, in theory. The reality is I end up surrounded by clouds of dust and piles of rearranged clutter.

The biggest problem, I think, aside from my obvious pack rat tendencies, is the difficulty I have actually throwing things away. I mean, there�s the undeniable garbage, like banana peels, used tissues, and decades-old receipts; there�s stuff that no longer serves any useful function and should be thrown out or recycled, like old notebooks and those rusty old pencil cases from college (I was an arki student, remember? We had lots of pencils); and there�s stuff that someone could still conceivably use, that someone being definitely not you. In this last category, we have old Christmas trees (most people only need one tree, after all), broken monitors that will cost more to fix than to replace, low-tech brick-sized cellphones, clothes that no longer fit, knick knacks and other dust gatherers that would be cute and charming if you didn�t subscribe to this whole Zen aesthetic, CDs with corrupted files� the list goes on and on and on.

Before you even attempt that most sublime of experiences known as �decluttering,� you should have a pretty good idea how to dispose of the aforementioned classes of trash. The obvious garbage gets hauled away to the tune of F�r Elise by the friendly neighborhood trash guys (though I wouldn�t know if they�ve changed their theme song recently; our garbage truck�s arrival is heralded by a whiny honking and rigorous pounding on the sides of the vehicle), who can also take care of the easily recyclable stuff. But the more difficult-to-dispose-of last category might take a little creative thought: you don�t really want to throw this stuff away outright (though you can leave the sorting and recycling to the garbage guys, if they�re willing to do it), but you do have to dispose of it eventually.

We�re working on a complete guide for dealing with this problem (watch out for that next month), and although we haven�t got all the resources lined up yet, here�s a general idea of what you�ll need: a preferred charity or orphanage that would welcome used clothes, shoes, books, and other supplies; a reseller of clothes or books (aka ukay ukay and book sale); a regular swap meet or rummage sale venue; and a friendly neighborhood hauler or junk shop for odds and ends. Finally, and the point of this whole article, you�ll need a schedule of waste markets organized by and held at the SM Supermalls.

The whole idea of a waste market is to encourage people to dispose of their waste responsibly and in an environmentally sound manner. The big incentive is that you can actually sell some of your waste and turn trash into cash (I couldn�t resist the cutesy rhyme, sorry). Working with accredited recyclers, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippine Business for the Environment, and the participating malls� local city governments, SM is trying to clean up the environment and educate people on proper waste disposal.

So what kind of junk can you sell? The list includes PET bottles, aluminum containers, tin cans, paper, cartons, computers and other electronic appliances, ink and toner cartridges, used lead, car batteries, voltage regulators, and busted rechargeable lamps (this last one takes you back to the brownout age, doesn�t it?). You can also bring polystyrene, styrofoam, junk cellphones, and cellphone batteries; these aren�t saleable, but the people at the market will cart them away for you.

Oh, and while we�re on the topic of saving the world, check out the Stop Global Warming Virtual March at StopGlobalWarming.org, and stay on top of local initiatives for preserving the environment at GreenPhils.

Here�s the schedule for the southern SM Supermalls (please call them to confirm the schedules, since we�ve already got conflicting information from the posters and the press releases; for the next one scheduled at SM Southmall, look for Michelle Santos at 800-0446 or 800-0447); all of these are on Saturdays from 8 AM to 2 PM.

July 21 � SM Southmall

July 28 � SM Molino

August 4 � SM City Batangas

August 11 � SM Mall of Asia

August 25 � SM City Bacoor

September 22 � SM Lipa

October 6 � SM City Dasmari�as

October 13 � SM City Lucena

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