Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has spearheaded the launch of a plastic waste trading program allowing residents to exchange their recyclables for groceries.
She tasked the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department to supervise the trash to cashback program, the city’s initiative in partnership with Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies or BEST that trades recyclables into environmental points which in turn could be exchanged for basic commodities such as rice, eggs and vegetables.
“The program’s main objective is to promote to our QCitizens the importance of recycling and proper waste segregation. Kapag dinala nila sa ating Trash to Cashback kiosk ang kanilang recyclable materials, pwede nila itong ipalit sa grocery,” Belmonte said.
A My Basurero Eco-Community or MBE-C kiosk has been set up at the QC Hall Risen Garden where employees can exchange their recyclable waste (plastic, paper, and metal) to environmental points, which could also be traded for groceries. It will soon be rolled out in barangays.
Interested traders have to create and register their email to BeepXTRA Philippines, BEST’s Cashback Loyalty Platform partner, to earn EPs.
Apart from groceries, EPs could also be used in bXTRA food deliveries. A complete list of partner stores and establishments could be accessed through bXTRA.com.ph and bXTRAoutlet.delivery.
EPWMD head Andrea Villaroman said talks are under way with the city’s Small Business Cooperatives Development and Promotions Office for the registration of micro and small businesses as partner merchants of bXTRA.