Mining natural resources is detrimental to the environment and people. But there’s one kind of mining that could help save the environment: “urban mining”. Yes, you read it right.  Urban mining is the process of extracting and recovering valuable source of earth metals from electronic and electrical wastes.

Bantay Kalikasan, the environmental arm of ABS-CBN Foundation, recently inked an agreement with tourism hotspot Resorts World Manila (RWM) for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment(WEEE) recovery project. The partnership aims to recycle the hazardous e- wastes of RWM such as computer monitors, printers, cables, and the like.

Hazardous electrical and electronic wastes will be collected, treated, and recycled by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) -accredited transporter and recycler, Envirocare Management Precision, Inc. (EMPI).       

Ariel Entico, Envirocare Management Precision’s President and CEO, shared that through technology, environmental solutions are boundless and limitless. Valuable metals of equipment wastes are being recovered through urban mining.            

“The ultimate goal is to recover the precious metals from electrical and electronic equipment wastes. This is in support to the concept of urban mining,”  Entico said.

Envirocare, who is primarily responsible for collecting hazardous wastes, is going to do the mining out of these electrical and electronic equipment wastes. Materials like metals can be returned back to industries without destroying the environment.

Resorts World Manila vows to continuously collaborate with Bantay Kalikasan for more projects to protect the environment. Monetary proceeds from WEEE will benefit the said program. Present during the MOA signing are RWM Chief Operating Officer, Stephen James Reilly; ABS-CBN Foundation Chief Finance & Services Officer, Angelita Lara; Bantay Kalikasan Program Director, Jen Santos; Envirocare Management Precision President and CEO, Ariel Entico; and RWM  Safety, Environment and Pollution Control Compliance Manager, Marnie Pebrada.

This is the second partnership between ABS-CBN Foundation and Resorts World Manila. The first one being their collaboration for Bantay Kalikasan’s Bantay Langis project in May 2019, a project focused on the proper disposal of used oil.