SM Prime looks at possible collaboration with a Japanese company for waste-to-fuel solutions

Leading real estate developer in Southeast Asia, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime) recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s GUUN Co. Ltd. to explore a potential partnership to implement waste management solutions by recycling waste paper and plastics as an alternative source of energy called ‘fluff fuel’.

One kind of RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) made from compressed and shred plastics, paper, and fibers is called fluffy fuel. These are utilized as fuels in Japanese power plants, paper mills, and cement producing facilities.

Hans T. Sy, Chairman of the Executive Committee of SM Prime, is confident that a collaboration with GUUN will advance the nation’s waste reduction goals. He claimed that Japan has some of the most cutting-edge waste management and recycling systems in the world right now. There is no better partner for SM because we don’t just say we’re huge, we make sure we are; we don’t just say we’re environmentally friendly, we actually take big steps to protect the environment. I’m excited to advance with GUUN as one of the pioneers in the Philippines’ fight against environmental problems.

The Yokohama City, Japan-based GUUN Co., Ltd., which was established in March 2001, recently opened its P200 million, 2,400 square meter waste recycling facility in Tayud, Consolacion, Cebu. In 2014, the company experimented the manufacturing of fluff fuel from plastic trash in Inayawan, Cebu.

Since then, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment has adopted GUUN’s waste-to-fuel technology as a model for advanced low-carbon technology innovation for further deployment in developing countries.

“This will be a milestone partnership for us,” GUNN Chief Executive Officer Shinji Fujieda said after the signing ceremony. “I understand very much how important waste management is for SM and for the Philippines and we look forward to more projects we can do with the properties of SM Prime.”

SM Prime’s initiatives for waste management include waste reduction and effective waste collection and segregation. Over the years, it has implemented programs such as Trash to Cash, Plastic Waste Collection, and E-Waste Collection that have contributed to reducing the total solid waste generation across its real estate portfolio.

Through its pioneering Trash to Cash recycling market, SM Prime has collected and recycled 1.4M kg of plastics, paper, metals, and others in 2022. “We have saved 16,766 trees from the 986,222 kg of paper recycled,” SM Prime disclosed in its 2022 Integrated Report to shareholders.

In the meantime, 42,541kg of plastic garbage from 14 mall locations have been collected by SM’s Plastic garbage Collection program, a cooperation with the Plastic Credit Exchange that was established in February 2021. The E-Waste Collection program for the responsible disposal of WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment) is also available in all 83 SM Supermalls. The amount of e-waste processed thanks to this initiative was about 7,000 kilos.