MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City’s local government unit (LGU) has urged residents to join its cash for trash program, wherein recyclable trash would be sorted and exchanged for points, which may be converted into cash.
In a post on Quezon City’ Facebook page, the government said that people within the city can start sorting out their garbage for the Trash to Cashback Program by following steps laid out.
According to the LGU, the trash must be segregated at source, brought to the Trash to Cashback booths, and have them weighed. People would have to open a bXTRA account — Quezon City’s partner in the project — to allow their environmental points to be credited to their accounts.
Every trash has a corresponding price per amount: for example, handing over one kilogram of clear and cleaned Polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottles corresponds to 10 environmental points (EPs), while one kilogram of clear High-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastics would give 18 EPs.
As of now, one EP is equal to one cashback, and one cashback is equal to one peso. The EPs would be converted into bXTRA cashback which may be used to redeem items bXTRA’s partner outlets.
“QCitizens, ipunin na ang inyong recyclables para makapangolekta ng environmental points na magagamit pangbili ng pagkain at toiletries,” the local government said.
(QCitizens, start segregating your recyclables so that you could start collecting environmental points which can be used to buy food and toiletries.)
“Sa pakikipagtulungan ng lokal na pamahalaan, Quezon City Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department (EPWMD), at Basic Environmental Systems & Technologies, Inc. (BEST), ang Trash to Cashback ay isang programa na naglalayong mahikayat ang mga tao na magrecycle,” it added.
(Created with the help of the local government’s Quezon City Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department and the at Basic Environmental Systems & Technologies, Inc. [BEST] the Trash to Cashback would be a program that would push people towards recycling.)
The LGU said that the bins containing the submitted items would then be brought to a partner company which would give the materials a “second life”.
Quezon City further added that people participating in the project should ensure that the items would not bear any label and are clean to ensure that these would be admitted into the program.