Civic organizations commended the battery recycling program of Motolite in partnership with Evergreen Environmental Resources Inc. (EERI), Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), and ABS-CBN Foundation for being a good model of a sustainable and environment-friendly economic undertaking.
The heads of Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), SEEDS Philippines, and Guhit Pinas reacted positively to the presentation of Lloyd Arcedo, Assistant General Manager and Assistant Vice President at EERI, at the Earth Day webinar organized by youth-led environmental group SEEDS Philippines dubbed “START-UP: Solidarity of Students in Restoring and Transforming our Planet – An Earth Day Panel Discussion on Earth’s Protection and Restoration.”
Arcedo shared to hundreds of students in attendance how Evergreen is able to recycle up to 99% of an old battery’s components, which is consistent with the finding of the US Environmental Protection Agency that lead-acid batteries have the highest recycling rate among all products.
He stressed that this is made possible through the state-of-art equipment and ISO-certified operations of EERI. “Battery recycling is a form of urban mining wherein resources are reused. But recycling should be done in the safest, most efficient, and most environmentally sound manner.”
EERI’s output is being channeled back to the production facility of Motolite. For every used battery recycled, one new battery is produced, or a ratio of 1:1. EERI, the third-party recycler of Motolite, is accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Motolite also collects the used batteries through its trade-in program via its dealers and partner-retailers and its partnership with PBSP (Balik Baterya Program) and ABS-CBN Foundation (Bantay Baterya Program).
Beckie Malay, GCAP National Coordinator, said she was delighted to hear the recycling program of Motolite, which, she noted, is a concrete reflection of its motto “Pangmatagalan”. “That is a very good sustainable circular economy practice that I think most of our producers and manufacturers should think about planning and practicing; the kind of economy that they should pursue,” she said.
Christian Gio Adriano, co-convenor of SEEDS Philippines, commented “We were amazed at how Motolite and ERRI have done an initiative this big. We laud this initiative, especially with efforts to conserve, preserve and restore our environment while doing business. This shows the urgency to properly recycle car batteries which are hazardous wastes and we, the consumers, are the key to the success of this initiative of Motolite.”
Lloyd Garcia, External Vice President of Guhit Pinas National, noted Motolite’s efforts to collect used batteries through its trade-in program that allows motorists to get discounts when they return their old batteries every time they buy a new one.
The START-UP Webinar also served as the launch of a series of videos featuring social media influencers who also called on the public to return their old batteries to Motolite for recycling. The first video shown during the webinar featured Bb. Pilipinas candidate Alexandra Faith Garcia calling on everyone to support the efforts of Motolite, EERI, PBSP, and ABS-CBN Foundation.
She informed the public that because of the recycling program initiated by Motolite and its partners, around 3 million used batteries – which are considered hazardous wastes –are being recycled and turned into new batteries every year.