• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Telco giant PLDT and its wireless unit, Smart Communications Inc., signed a memorandum of agreement with the SM Group recently, on electronic waste management.
PLDT 1st vice president and chief sustainability officer and investor relations head Melissa Vergel De Dios said the e-waste collection bins are being produced and will be deployed in June, in line with the Environment Month celebration.
Under this partnership and through the SM Electronic Waste Collection Program, PLDT and Smart will deploy e-waste collection bins in 85 malls nationwide, including in Bacolod City, “to encourage Filipinos to recycle their e-waste and contribute to the fight against climate change. The e-waste collected will be transported for proper treatment and disposal.”
Senior VP and head of Consumer Business-Individual Alex Caeg also said at the hybrid press briefing recently that this initiative is one way of ensuring that e-waste will properly be disposed of, and not polluting rivers.
“It was embarked on our own initiative. We want to make a point” on the importance of proper e-waste collection and disposal, adding that aside from this partnership with SM, the PLDT Group has been implementing initiatives on waste management.
This includes the launching last year of embedded SIM, or e-SIM card, that Caeg said does away with lots of plastics. “This is our way of ensuring that customers get their prepaid and postpaid lines updated, but without the accompanying wastes.”
Common e-waste items include computers, mobile phones, large household appliances, as well as medical equipment.
The World Health Organization said that, every year, millions of electrical and electronic devices are discarded as products break or become obsolete, and are thrown away. “These discarded devices are considered e-waste and can become a threat to the environment and to human health if they are not treated, disposed of, and recycled appropriately.”
E-waste is considered hazardous waste as it contains toxic materials, or can produce toxic chemicals, when treated inappropriately. Many of these toxic materials are included in the list of chemicals of public health concern, like lead, mercury, and dioxins, which can cause cancer and other health problems, and is formed by burning or bleaching, the WHO added. | CGC
