IN PHOTO
(Left to right): SM Supermalls Vice President Liza Silerio, SM Prime Chairman
of the Executive Committee Hans T. Sy, GUUN Chief
Executive Officer Shinji Fujieda, GUUN Philippine Branch Senior Managing
Director and General Manager Takeshi Konishi
Leading real estate developer in
Southeast Asia, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime) recently signed a memorandum
of understanding with Japan’s GUUN Co. Ltd. to explore a potential partnership
to implement waste management solutions by recycling waste paper and plastics
as an alternative source of energy called ‘fluff fuel’.
Fluff Fuels are one type of RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) which
are produced from shredded and compressed plastics, papers, and fibers. These
are used as fuels in cement manufacturing, paper mill companies, or power
companies in Japan.
SM Prime Chairman of the Executive Committee Hans T. Sy is
positive that a partnership with GUUN will contribute to the waste reduction
goals of the country. “Today, Japan’s waste management and recycling technology
is among the most advanced in the world,” he said. “There is no better partner
for SM because we do not just talk about being big, we
make sure we do it; we do not talk about being environment friendly but we do take
bold steps to save the environment. I am looking forward to growing with GUUN
as among leaders in solving environmental issues in the Philippines.”
GUUN Co., Ltd., founded in March 2001 and headquartered in
Yokohama City, Japan, piloted the production of fluff fuel from plastic waste
in Inayawan, Cebu in 2014 and recently inaugurated its P200-million,
2,400-square meter waste recycling plant in Tayud, Consolacion, Cebu.
Since then, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment has adopted
GUUN’s waste-to-fuel technology as a model for advanced low-carbon technology
innovation for further deployment in developing countries.
“This will be a milestone partnership for us,” GUNN Chief Executive
Officer Shinji Fujieda said after the signing ceremony. "I understand very
much how important waste management is for SM and for the Philippines and we
look forward to more projects we can do with the properties of SM Prime.”
SM Prime’s
initiatives for waste management include waste reduction and effective waste
collection and segregation. Over the years, it has implemented programs such as
Trash to Cash, Plastic Waste Collection, and E-Waste Collection that have
contributed to reducing the total solid waste generation across its real estate
portfolio.
Through its
pioneering Trash to Cash recycling market, SM Prime has collected and recycled
1.4M kg of plastics, paper, metals, and others in 2022. “We have saved 16,766 trees
from the 986,222 kg of paper recycled,” SM Prime disclosed in its 2022
Integrated Report to shareholders.
Meanwhile, SM’s
Plastic Waste Collection program, a partnership with the Plastic Credit
Exchange that was launched in February 2021, has accumulated 42,541kg of plastic
waste from 14 mall sites. Also present in all its 83 SM Supermalls is the
E-Waste Collection program for the responsible disposal of WEEE (Waste from
Electrical and Electronic Equipment). This drive has helped process close to
7,000 kilograms of e-waste.
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