There comes a time when your cell phone stops working or your home appliances give in to wear and tear. However, unlike plastic, paper, tin or food, you can’t just chuck these items into your segregated waste bins because of toxic chemicals that may leach from them. Improper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) can poison the ground at landfills and eventually make its way to groundwater and surrounding freshwater. This is hazardous not just to people, but also to nearby wildlife. So what do you do with your old tech?

Aside from donating to those who may be looking for tech parts, proper disposal of e-waste includes seeking a treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facility that will take care of handling equipment with hazardous components.

While there are 135 registered TSD facilities in the Philippines, not all of them process e-waste. Research shows that most of this tech junk is instead being handled by scavengers, waste pickers and junkshop operators, and one can note how inaccessibility may serve as a hindrance to some people when it comes to practicing proper e-waste disposal.

e-waste globe — *Photo by Michał Lis on Unsplash*

To aid this, Globe is setting up 100 e-waste collection points in various participating stores nationwide. This includes the telecommunications company’s stores in major malls like SM North Edsa, Trinoma, UP Town Katipunan, Gateway Mall, SM East Ortigas, Ayala 30th, SM Southmall, Glorietta, Greenbelt 4, Ayala Manila Bay, SM Mall of Asia, SM Sucat, Robinsons Place Manila, SM San Lazaro, Market Market and SM Aura. Other drop off points are also listed here, and organizations may also request a free door-to-door pickup of bulky e-waste by emailing [email protected].

Here’s a list of the electronic items you can dispose of in these e-waste collection points:

Computer sets and accessories – LCDs, monitors, CPUs, keyboards, mouse, earphones and speakers
Printers and fax machines
Old television monitors
Mobile phones
Home appliances – Washing machine, iron, oven and refrigerator
Cable wires (except fiber optic)
Car electronics
Circuit boards
CDs and DVDs
Batteries (except for lead-acid car batteries)

Globe’s e-waste collection program was first launched in 2014 and introduced as Project 1 Phone. It aimed to encourage businesses, organizations and the public to donate their old and unused devices, which will be delivered to Globe’s partner TSD facilities Total Environment Solutions – Asset Material Management Philippines (TES-AMM) and Maritrans Recycler, Inc.

The disposed devices are then segregated locally to recover plastic materials, electronic components and precious metals. It is then sent to TES-AMM’s facility in Singapore for the final recycling process. In 2019, the Globe E-waste Zero program managed to collect over 343,000 kilograms of e-waste, amassing a total of over 1.2 million kilograms since the project’s launch. Over 52 corporations and organizations nationwide also participated in the program.

Aside from helping prevent hazardous waste disposal, the project will also help public school teachers and students by funding their communication needs in collaboration with the Department of Education, through the collected proceeds.