UP DEMO x Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies (BEST) Trash-to-Cashback Program Partnership

Rosanne Marie Aldeguer•

2 weeks ago•
2 min read

One of the mandates of the Special Projects Division of the UP Diliman Environmental Management Office is to “coordinate with academic units, local and national government units, and the private sector on possible projects under waste management and pollution control.” In accordance with this, the team has partnered with Basic Environmental Systems and Technologies, Inc. (B.E.S.T.) in their Trash-to-Cashback program, in order to make recycling more convenient and accessible to students, staff, residents, and the general public.

B.E.S.T.’s Trash-to-Cashback program “is an incentivized segregation at source program that promotes proper waste management and sustainability by focusing on a grassroots level approach. (They) are able to reward participants, called Eco-Warriors, with Environmental Points (EP) and incentives from (their) partners upon exchanging recyclables such as paper, plastic, and metal, while glass can be exchanged for coin bank incentives. The program encourages individuals to properly segregate their waste and contributes to the compliance of RA 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, RA 11898, the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022, and other local ordinances related to waste management for cities, businesses, and communities.”

The partnership between UP DEMO and BEST enables Trash-to-Cashback pop-up collection booths to be set up at the Sunken Garden Grandstand every other Sunday, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Since the beginning of the partnership in March 2025, BEST has collected 3.6 tonnes of recyclable waste – a substantial amount of solid waste that would have otherwise gone to landfill. For more detailed reports on the Trash-to-Cashback collection, you may click on the following links:

We enjoin the UP Diliman community to participate in this program by bringing your clean, dry, segregated recyclables to the pop-up collection booths. To find out more about the accepted recyclables and the pop-up booth schedules, you may follow UP DEMO’s Facebook / Instagram pages, and BEST Trash-to-Cashback’s Facebook / Instagram pages.