E-Waste Zero helps Globe’s drive towards environmental sustainability

As part of its environmental protection and sustainability advocacy, Globe encourages everyone to practice responsible e-waste management and join its E-Waste Zero program. E-waste Zero focuses on responsible disposal and recycling of electronic waste, one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the Philippines today.

Miguel Bermundo, Globe Senior Manager for Sustainability Integration, discussed the program during his talk at the latest Liveable Cities Lab session on “Circular Economy: Take, Make, Use, Repeat!” presented by the Liveable Cities Challenge Philippines and the League of Cities of the Philippines, in partnership with Globe. It aims to equip cities with knowledge and insights for designing better solutions for their communities.

E-waste refers to any old, non-working, and end-of-life devices. These cover all electrical and electronic equipment and its components, such as electronic or battery-operated devices and IT accessories and peripherals that are no longer working or wanted.

Launched in 2014, E-waste Zero has served as a platform for everyone to donate their old, non-working electronic devices through over 120 e-waste drop-off points nationwide, mostly in Globe Stores and malls. This allows the public to join the fight against e-waste wherever they may be.

“You can all participate in E-Waste Zero in two very easy ways. First, you can drop off your e-waste in select Globe stores or request a free door-to-door pick-up. Second, you can most certainly partner with us through a signed agreement should you choose to have a regular e-waste pick-up arrangement with us. This is our commitment,” said Bermundo.

So far, Globe has over 80 partner corporations, organizations, local government units, and schools. Since 2014, the program has responsibly recycled 1.4 million kilograms of e-waste.

The recovery and recycling program ensures that e-waste like old mobile phones, broken chargers, and other electronic gadgets do not end up in landfills. It aims not just to promote proper disposal but also to educate people about the potential harm of e-waste to the environment. Visit https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/sustainability/environment.html for the complete list of drop-off points nationwide or to request a free door-to-door hauling of bulky e-waste.

“E-Waste Zero is one of Globe’s key sustainability programs, focused on caring for the environment. It also helps attain circularity in the supply chain,” said Bermundo.

“With circularity, nothing is wasted since everything goes back to the system. Through this process, the value of the product is maximized. We make the most of the materials we have available to us. We find a way to keep using it and find returning value,” he added.

Unlike the linear economy model which is focused more on a take-make-dispose scheme, Circularity starts with product design, production, distribution, and consumption. It continues the collection of used products and recycling. Eventually, these are reinserted into the system as raw materials. The main focus of this model is to maintain the added value of a material while eliminating waste as best as possible.

As part of its commitment to circularity, Globe has joined a multi-stakeholder partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), DENR and Ecowaste Coalition earlier this year which put up the country’s second community e-waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal (TSD) facility in Barangay Dampalit, Malabon City. This will help informal e-waste pickers transition into a formal economy by capacitizing them to properly handle e-waste and by protecting them from environmental and occupational health hazards.

E-waste Zero has been featured by GSMA as one of the global best practices for take back and collection programs. GSMA is an international organization that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide.

E-waste Zero is part of Globe’s support to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically, UN SDG No. 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production. It hopes to achieve economic growth and sustainable development by urgently reducing ecological footprint, increasing resource efficiency, and promoting sustainable lifestyles. Globe remains committed to upholding the UN Global Compact principles and contributing to 10 UN SDGs.

My Daughter Won 1st Place in an Art Contest

Congratulations to my daughter Chloe who won 1st place in DENR's Environmental Art contest for Grades 10-12 in Region 10. The theme was about New Normal Challenge: Sustainable Actions for a Sustainable Future.

The contest this year was a bit different and perhaps quite new for all the contestants. They submitted their entries online that included the story behind their drawings and a video of themselves doing the artwork.

As far as I could remember, my daughter started sketching at the age of 2 and a half. It was Christmas time and we bought her a gift at the mall already but she caught the eye of a MegaSketcher (she called it magic board that time) and she didn't want to leave without it. We never spoil her with material things but it was only at that time in her life that she sat on the floor and didn't leave the mall without getting that thing. We gave in but told her to promise us to never to do it again and she nodded (and she never did👏). As it turned out, the Megasketcher helped her improve her drawings in her growing up years. Later, her sketches were more developed until she finally let her younger sister inherited her 'old toy'.

Now, she's 17 years old, had joined many school competitions on traditional arts (won some, missed some). She started joining digital art only last year and even won a place at her school.

But DENR contest was a big thing for her (and for us as well). It was the first time she won first place in an inter-school competition and with no coach (because of Covid19 pandemic). She joined before but only landed in top 7 or top 10. Anyways, just wanna flex myself for guiding her this time and acted like a 'caoch', hehe.

Actually, I am not good in art and I have no talent like my daughter and the only thing I could be of assistance was to check if her drawing was in line with the theme or if her drawing was able to convey the message in one glance...oh, I took videos of her while sketching but it was she who did the editing then submitted it via email.

Anyways, I also checked the other entries and wow, I was really impressed to see the artworks of those talented kids. They all deserved to be in top 10 with their God-given talents.

So, congrats to all but most especially to my daughter who put much effort in this artwork. I should know coz I saw how passionate she was, how she slept late at night just to finish it but I was also glad that she somehow listened to me when I suggested something what to include and what to exclude :D

Again, congrats Chloe! You deserve it💓

Environmental Software

A lot of companies have workers who rendered their services according to their required time. Sometimes, they even exceed with their time in order to accomplish their work for the day. This kind of attitude is very much appreciated by the company however, the worker's health should be considered and not taken for granted.

The company must not only think about their employees' output but also look after their welfare. No matter how productive is their employees, still, their health should not be put at risk. Besides, it's the company who will benefit if their employees are not sickly. However, not all companies are that familiar with environmental health but if they can only avail software on that and understand its importance, I bet they will see the good effect once they implement it on their workplace.

Should you have further clarifications, you can check it at Medgate.com. You can contact them and refer your concern if you have one and they will gladly reply it. You can also browse at their site, know about their mission and vision and learn more about environmental software.

Helping The Environment

We live in a world where many hazardous chemicals and wastes are being scattered everywhere. We don't deserve that as it endangers our health and destroys all living things in our surroundings just because of somebody else's ignorance to the community.

Thankfully, there is a technology today which allows waste water and other bio-organic wastes to be used as opportunity fuels, so that instead of dumping them directly into the environment where they would normally be hazardous, they can be converted into soil friendly solids and even be utilized as an alternative energy.

Have you ever heard about N-Viro International Corporation? This company develops and licenses its technology to municipalities and private sectors. N-VIC's process converts waste water sludge and other bio-organic wastes into biomineral agricultural and soil-enrichment products with real market value. In short, their system converts waste to energy.

This company has even earned in excess of $40 million dollars since it has started in October of 1993. To know more about N-VIC, watch the video below or visit them at http://www.nviro.com.