My SM Trash To Cash Experience
This article is posted under Life Lessons.I did an inspection of the office stock room the other day. Looking around, I noticed that electronic junk and waste paper from the past four months have already accumulated significantly. Boxes of paper, old magazines, computer casings, empty ink cartridges, defective scanners and printers were neatly stacked in one corner.
Immediately, I checked my schedule and was glad to see that I didn’t have any important appointments for the weekend. So I decided to pack everything and prepared to bring them to the upcoming recycling market in SM. 
Here are some pictures I took that day:
Unloading the junk from my car
I arrived around lunchtime at the west parking lot of SM Southmall. Immediately, the staff approached with shopping carts and helped me unload the items from my car.
Registration booth
First stop was the registration booth where I filled out a form and told the staff what items I brought.
Booth stubs
The lady at the registration then gave me stubs that tell which booths I’m supposed to bring my items.
Paper and plastics booth
I took this picture while waiting in line at the paper and plastics recycling booth. The two boxes at the corner are mine.
Truck load of electronic junk.
My second stop was the e-waste booth where you could bring all of your electronic junk. As you can see, they accept almost everything. Can you see the turbo broiler?
E-Waste booth
Here I am posing with the guy assigned at the electronic junk booth. Thumbs up for the excellent price he gave me for my items.
Ink cartridge booth
HP cartridges that haven’t been refilled and still in good condition would sell around P50 to P200 depending on the model. They also accept other printer brands.
With the ink cartridge mom
This is a picture of me and the nice mommy assigned at the ink cartridges booth, my last stop at the recycling market.
Lunch time
After getting my payment, I decided to head inside and have some lunch. You can see me holding my loot for the day. I earned a total of P1,064.50, not bad don’t you think?
Here’s a breakdown of the items I brought:
- 24 kilos of assorted metal scrap
- 8 kilos of CPU casings
- 2 defective motherboards
- 19 kilos of waste paper
- 1.5 kilos of carton boxes
- 1.5 kilos of plastics
- 12 pieces empty ink cartridges
SM Trash To Cash is an affair that happens from 8am to 2pm, every first Friday and Saturday of the month at the open parking in every SM Supermall. It’s sponsored by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and is brought to us in partnership with the SM Group of Companies and the Philippine Business for the Environment.
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Hi, my name is Fitz and this is my blog on personal finance.
this is something we should all follow..earning at the same time protecting Mother nature. Great post!
Hi Lee Angelo, thanks for the comment. I edited out your email to protect your privacy. Please check you email, I’m sending you the information you need there. Thanks!
Thanks for the concern. Hope your site will make it as finalist! More power!
great move by SM. i have a lot of junks here. =D
Uyyy okay ito ha!
That looks like a really cool event. I actually work with an internet company that does the same thing: give you cash for your used gadget. We feel that reuse is the best solution for the E-Waste problem. Recycling is certainly very important (we do it too!) and all electronics need to be recycled eventually, but with reuse, the lifespan of your gadget is increased and someone gets to benefit from a device for which they have a real use. http://www.Gazelle.com
hmmmmmmmm, nice idea fitZ, trash to cash!!! mkahanap nga ng trash dito xa office, hehe, meron b nyan xa iloilo? hehehe
thanks for sharing fits, di ko alam to ah! hehe, dami pala naka tambak na Pera sa bahay namin hehe.
Nice idea! Kudos to SM and to you brother!
Thanks everyone for your comments!
Ed and Glenn – time for you guys to turn those trash into cash on September!
Ross – thanks for sharing your website. I hope my readers who don’t have access to a recycling center will use it as an alternative to get rid of their electronic junk.
Gusher – as far as I know, all SM branches hold this event.
Aileen and Ambo – thanks for dropping by!
Stumbled!
Wow thats big money for a trash… Pwede din cguro ung trash ng Baguio bigay dyan hehehe problem ung trash dito as of now eh! Nice post Fitz tumaba ka comapre dun sa gravatar mo!
Thanks juler, may SM naman diyan sa Baguio – sa kanila mo na lang ibigay ang mga trash mo. Hehe.
And yes, I gained mass since I started weight training. My gravatar was taken at the height of my cardio training last year where I lost major pounds. That was very observant of you.
Hello Fitz. Thank you for sharing this story. I should check out the stuff we have at home and better start taking it there.
ang layo naman ng sm southmall sa place namin. sana meron din sa sm dasmariñas, cavite para pwede i-commute. 2 sets pa naman ng old computers meron ako. hay…
wow, this is innovative! di ko alam meron palang ganitong proyekto ang SM…tunay na kahanga-hanga…nagka-idea tuloy ako…thanks for sharing!
Hi Nicely, ang alam ko meron ‘yan sa lahat ng SM branches. So I guess it’s also available in SM Dasma.
great post! your blog is a great idea… i’m glad you’re able to share your experiences regarding lessons you learned about entreprenuership. wish you all the best with your quest for financial freedom!
*heading to the nearest sm mall with my trash* LOL!
Hi. Nice blog. Was searching Google for info on the Trash-to-Cash program and found your blog instead.
We’ve been wanting to head to SM’s Trash-to-Cash program for the past 3 months but I always end up being busy the first weekend of the month.
Anyway, I have questions, if you don’t mind.
1) Are magazines considered scrap paper?
2) Are paper products really for trade only?
3) Does SM have a website on this project that I can get more information from (so I won’t bother you too much)?
Thanks a lot. I will definitely follow your blog a lot more.
Happy New Year!
Hi Cupid, to answer your questions:
1. Yes, magazines are considered scrap paper.
2. Nope, you can trade paper products for cash.
3. As far as I know, SM doesn’t have a website about this project.
Thanks for the visit!
Cool. Thanks for answering.
More power to you.
is SM still conducting these waste market fairs? i have 3 huge bags of scratch papers from college that i want to recycle. Hope you can help me. Thanks.
Yes Cristina, it’s still ongoing.
I’m kinda disappointed with my Trash to Cash experience at SM Cebu though. First, there was no segregation involved (separating computer components from other metal scrap as what you described in your post. And most of what I brought were old or defective computer parts). From my 17.5 kilos of “assorted” (as how they categorized it) metal scrap, 17 kilos of scrap paper (newspapers and brochures),2 HP cartridges (each at 10 pesos ONLY) (13 were of Canon brand – PIXMA iP4200 which they said were not included), I got only a total of PHP 193.5
pwede ba yung mga product catalogues? telephone directory? thick magazines?
Thank you for the information I found here in your blog! ^^;
Till when yung SM Trash to Cash promo?
Marami po dito sa office na defective Monitors, CPU, Parts na pinapadispose na sa akin…kaya lang di ko alam kung saan.
Ano po ba contact number ng mga organizers?
Thank you….
Eduard, every SM branch has a different organizer. Better ask the admin of the SM near you. And yes, this is still ongoing.
sayang, ngayon pala ang schedule ng SM Trash to Cash, tagal ko nang nag-iisip kung pano idi-dispose ang mga kung anu-anong bagay na di na namin ginagamit dito sa bahay eh. I’ll note the schedule for next month. Thanks for this great tip! =)
How much did they pay you for every kilo of scrap paper? Do they consider colored and plain white scrap paper as the same or does the former cost a little higher? Thanks in advance! Your blog was really helpful…
I have a lot of original empty Epson 91N and 73N cartridges. However, these are non-refillable cartridges. Do you think they will buy these? Thank you Fritz! Your blog really helps
@Louie
The price varies, depending on who SM was able to outsource. Just check your local branch. And in my experience, it doesn’t matter if it’s colored or plain white – the weight of the paper is what matters to them.
@Jess
I’m not really sure. I suggest you visit SM Trash to Cash and ask the ink cartridge buyers. It’s usually different in every branch so it also helps to check other SM branches if the one you asked doesn’t buy those. Hope I was able to help.