Ford Philippines, Motolite, PBSP partner for Balik Baterya Program

MANILA, Philippines — There is no safe level of lead exposure. Lead is toxic and harmful not only to the environment, but to the health as well. However, lead is still used for products such as batteries. According to the United Nations Environment Program, around 86 percent of the total global consumption of lead is for the production of lead-acid batteries.

With a large number of batteries being produced each year, proper disposal and recycling of batteries is also a concern. To help address this problem, Ford Philippines together with Ford dealers nationwide, Motolite, and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) forged a collaboration to recycle used lead-acid batteries (ULABs) through the Balik Baterya Program.

Launched in 2006, the Balik Baterya Program is Motolite’s flagship CSR initiative advocating for the proper disposal and legitimate recycling of ULABs to protect the environment from hazardous wastes. The collected used batteries are reprocessed and recycled for commercial use. The proceeds from the used batteries are then used to fund development projects for communities in need such as provision of new classrooms, school desks, books, and supplemental feeding for children.

To date, the program has generated around P147 million which supported and implemented around 169 projects nationwide. These projects benefitted at least 115 public schools and communities.