Starting in 2007, SM Supermalls has partnered with the Department of Environment and National Resources’ (DENR) National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to create public awareness and consciousness amongst mobile phone users on the proper disposal of cell phone battery wastes through bins set up at the Megamall Cyberzone area.

As the years went by, SM management realized that the real challenge was how to continue and make sense of a world in which ‘green hopes’ outweighed ‘green habits’.

“We believe that consumers are always looking for ways to be more responsible in their lives and they look to government and the private sector for solutions about what to do. Consumers are willing to do things that are relatively easy and that don’t require many changes in habits or give additional cost,” said SM Sta. Rosa assistant mall manager Cielo Flores.

Realizing that consumers want private companies to help and initiate ways of helping save the environment, SM Supermalls focused their strategy on what consumers are willing and have proven they can do in the hope that they can help the latter realize their potential in transforming their mindset about the environment.

With Republic Act No. 6969 or more known as the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990 as the basis of SM’s Cellphone Waste Collection Campaign, the retail giant partnered with Nokia and the NSWMC with hopes that by placing cell phone battery bins strategically in their malls nationwide, millions of shoppers will see how a collaborative effort can produce solutions.

Mobile phones, chargers and other technological gadget are known to contain hazardous chemicals that may be harmful to one’s health and people need to be properly informed on how to dispose of these items when they are no longer functioning.

SM’s Cellphone Waste Collection Campaign aims to inform and educate its shoppers on the hazards of chemical and toxic wastes as well as to provide them with an avenue to properly dispose of these electronic wastes or e-wastes.

Part of the proceeds of this endeavor will be donated to the rehabilitation of the La Mesa Watershed.