Consumers across Metro Manila can now drop off their empty PET bottles for recycling at partner sari-sari stores and carinderias, as Coca-Cola Philippines expands the Tindahan Extra Mile (TEM): Balik PET Bottle program to 2,400 stores in 2024.
The Tindahan Extra Mile (TEM): Balik PET Bottle Program, a collaboration between Coca-Cola Philippines and Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies, Inc. (BEST) not only extends the life of used pet bottles but also offers financial incentives for store owners.
“We are one with Coca-Cola Philippines in ensuring that our bottles can have many lives by bringing our collected PET Bottles from Sari-Sari Stores to PETValue Philippines, a first of its kind. Our commitment to sustainability and waste innovation comes full circle through this partnership. Indeed, it is refreshing to walk the talk in circularity,” said BEST senior vice president for business development Jan Vincent Mercado.
TEM collection bins are positioned in front of sari-sari stores and carinderias where consumers can conveniently drop off their empty bottles and cans for recycling. After collection, PET bottles are weighed at each store and recorded in the store owner’s bXTRA app account.
Store owners earn points that can be exchanged for cash back depending on the number of bottles acquired in a month. They can choose to withdraw the points as cash or use them to acquire Coca-Cola products and merchandise.
In September 2023, Coca-Cola Philippines launched its consumer engagement program, ‘May Ikabobote Pa’, to educate, inspire, and engage more consumers to return their empty bottles and cans so they can be recycled and turned into new materials.
Through this, the company hopes to inspire behavior change among consumers and empower like-minded organizations and communities to continue working together to prevent plastic waste from ending up in places where they are not supposed to be.