Recycling Facilities for Malls

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Having been to Greenhills three times in the past seven days (to have the PlayStation 2 serviced, or to return defective game discs, etc.) an idea came to me while we were on the cab home. We had just passed by a truck collecting dry garbage and I was going to comment on how neat and orderly it actually looked. Seriously. It didn’t look dirty and I doubt if it was all too smelly either. On the side of the truck, there was a huge sign about the garbage collector being a member of an organization of contractors in the Litex-Payatas dumpsite.

Immediately as my brain was processing that thought, another idea fired through – malls should have their own waste programs and recycling facilities. They can help save the planet, and still generate additional income for themselves. How much waste do you think is accumulated in Greenhills each and every day, specially during the holiday season? How about in the chain of SM and Robinson’s Malls?

I think that if they were really committed to doing their part in the fight to counter pollution and global warming, then they should put their money where their mouths are and invest on their own recycling facilities.

I mean, people troop to malls every weekend. We go during weekdays and there are still a lot of people there. So business is always on the up and up, from my point of view. They keep on renovating, to accommodate more shops. Then in recent years, we’ve seen more malls go the Ayala mall way of having Pay Lounges where you need to cough up ten pesos to use their well maintained American Standard toilets.  I actually like the concept. The restrooms are clean, and they smell wonderful. There’s always tissue, and soap, and even powder and hand lotion. But hey, I’ve gone so out of topic here…

So really, don’t you agree that the big malls should invest on their own recycling facilities? Or better yet, there should be legislation around this area. So that anyone in the business of malls, depending on some criteria (income, number of shops, etc.) should also submit an environmental plan then government and NGOs should monitor its implementation.

Just a though. 🙂