SM Prime: Building Plastic-free Communities
July 03, 2025The production of plastics is expected to reach 1,100 million tonnes by 2050 globally, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), and pose harsh environmental, social, economic, and human health impacts.
One of Southeast Asia's biggest integrated property developers, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime), continues to be focused on developing healthy, sustainable cities.
With a wasteless future as part of its green agenda, SM Prime is prodding everyone to observe International Plastic-free Day on May 25 and its appeal for a day's reconsideration of single-use plastics (SUP). Further, SM Prime is commemorating the company-wide efforts to advance the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022.
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| The Recyclable, Disposable, and Compostable-bin units help facilitate SM's waste-free future plan and align with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022. |
A company-wide push for the EPR Law
The SM group, in collaboration with its Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability (PARMS), is following an across-the-group strategy to meet the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)'s EPR Act of 2022.
Legally referred to as Republic Act 11898, the EPR law mandates businesses to be held accountable for the recovery of their plastic packaging materials and to have waste management programs in place.
Recognizing the challenges and realities to businesses and ground operations with its EPR working group committee, the SM group pledges a course of action in minimizing and recycling its plastic footprint within the five-year time frame, disseminating alternatives and new technologies to address the escalating global crises, and forging alliances with government agencies and other private institutions.
As the real estate business arm of the SM group, SM Prime's advocacy of a waste-free future is purposed to develop the necessary infrastructure that will be able to support and sustain plastic waste management programs.
In waste recovery initiatives, SM Prime sends its properties equipped with a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and standard waste segregation and management procedures to minimize landfill waste. Under a partnership with a Japanese environmental solutions firm, the SM GUUN Environmental Company, Inc. (SGECI), it turns non-recyclable wastes into cement fuel or "fluff fuel" for environmentally friendly cement companies such as APO Cement, Holcim, and Taiheiyo Cement, under its "co-processing" practice.
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| SM GUUN transforms throwaway garbage into fluff fuel that serves to offload its capacity and overcrowded landfills. |
Beyond compliance
SM Prime persists with its ongoing programs like the national Trash to Cash recycling marketplace. It has been a flagship program of SM Supermalls since 2007 that remains more pertinent with the times.
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| Found in every one of SM's 87 malls, the Trash to Cash program has been hailed as a lucrative neighborhood practice that is rewarding for nearby residents and mall lessees. |
Actuating the SM malls to assist their community with segregated plastic trash, Trash to Cash rewards the exchange of recyclables to create a place for the recovery of plastic. Fifteen SM Plastic Waste Collection points also act as drop-off centers for clean, dry, and empty plastics. Furthermore, the Solid Waste Action Program (SWAP) reverse vending facilities at SM Megamall and SM Mall of Asia allow the diversion of polyethylene terephthalate bottles (PET) and aluminum cans as high-value plastic products.
The yearly International Coastal Clean-up (ICC), which is supported by SM Cares, continues to enable volunteers to join this global undertaking for a record-breaking event. In 2024 alone, 23,000 employees, students, and other communities who participated in nationwide volunteer activities were mobilized by SM Cares to clean up the world's beaches and waterways.
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| Volunteers engage in the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) with a common purpose, with registration growing annually. |
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| Hamilo Coast, which boasts Marine Protected Areas and is dedicated to coexistence with nature, along with staff, visitors, and residents, reclaims plastic trash during beach cleanup. Striving towards a waste-free future |
Reduction is always the best course of action. The SM Hotels and Conventions Corporation (SMHCC) already cut off SUPs in all its properties in line with the UNEP's phasing out campaign. Pico Sands Hotel was also one of the pioneers of hotels to sign on with the World-Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF) in their Ayoko Na Sa Plastic Campaign last 2018.
SMHCC effectively substituted all disposable amenities, including HDPE shampoo and shower gel packs and PET water bottles, in all of its hotel rooms. Since 2019, in accordance with the guidelines of the SMX Convention Centers to ensure sustainable events management practices, the use of bamboo or starch-based biodegradable substitutes for plastic cutlery is encouraged as a measure to reduce waste generation.
Working together as one unit to mitigate the impact of the plastic waste crisis has a larger scale at a bigger impact. With better waste management systems, good waste segregation procedures, and collaborative community effort, SM Prime intends to effectively keep more plastic waste out of landfills.
"In our work, there is always more to be done. There are new technologies, creative solutions, and additional areas of collaboration to anticipate in making the EPR Act beneficial to our communities," said Engr. Liza Silerio, SM Cares for Environment Program Director and Vice President for Corporate Compliance. "But everyone has a role to play--it is each person's responsibility to make the future waste-free."
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