Industry leaders strengthen mission for environmental sustainability program

Buying household items in small packages or sachets provide economic relief for most Filipinos who cannot afford to buy in bulks or wholesale. Unfortunately, these small plastic packages continue to choke Mother Earth as they always contribute to waste problem especially in Metro Manila.

Millions of these sachets, containing shampoo, detergent, coffee, among other items, are sold and produced, but their disposal often poses the biggest problem as far as the environment is concerned.

Good thing, many big companies now practice CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and have taken to include caring and loving for Mother Earth --taking it upon themselves to help de-clog the country’s drains, by implementing their own waste management solutions and bring a brighter future to many people not just in the country but worldwide.

Unilever Philippines, through its Sachet Recovery Program, has been collecting Surf sachets, which are shredded and mix with other materials to turn into cement pavers and donated to various beneficiary public schools nationwide. 

Launched in 2012, the Sachet Recovery Program is one among the various projects of Unilever Philippines under the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, a global campaign that aims to reduce the company’s environmental footprint while growing its business.

Three industry leaders—Unilever, Smart Communications and Cebuana Lhuillier—have recently renewed their commitment to champion environmental sustainability. With their shared mission to improve Filipino lives, the partners launched the third year of their Sachet Recovery Program at a fitting ceremony held in Mandaluyong Elementary School.

For 2015, these industry leaders plan to make the Sachet Recovery Program bigger and better than the first two years. For every sachet surrendered in any of the close to 2,000 Cebuana Lhuillier outlets, consumers will receive 10 free texts from Smart. With this increased incentive, more people will be involved in and educated about recycling empty sachets. 

Unilever Philippines Chairman and CEO Rohit Jawa thanked their partners for their continued support in the endeavor to reduce the environmental impact of sachets.

“We owe the Sachet Recovery program’s success these past two years to the valuable contributions of Smart Communications and Cebuana Lhuillier. This year, their bigger participation will definitely produce greater results for the benefit of the environment and Filipino communities,” Jawa said.

Unilever Philippines Vice President for Home Care Benjie Yap shared the achievements of the Sachet Recovery Program from the previous years. “In Year 1, we collected 4.5 million sachets, which we converted into 45,000 pavers. In 2014, we collected an additional 7.5 million empty sachets nationwide,” Yap said, adding that some of the pavers were readily donated to Barangay Union Coastal of Mayorga, Leyte and served as foundation to the environmentally-friendly laundry facility, Surf Labahan.

“As we enter the third year of this worthy undertaking, Smart is expanding its support for this program.  Starting this year, Talk ‘N Text and Sun subscribers will also be able to exchange their Surf sachets for free SMS. This opens the door to engaging millions more of Filipinos in this endeavor,” said Napoleon Nazareno, Smart Communications President and CEO.

Cebuana Lhuillier, on the other hand, will add newly-opened outlets to facilitate the redemption of Surf sachets. “Our growing branch network, which now totals close to 2,000 outlets, will provide a convenient way for millions of consumers nationwide to participate in the Sachet Recovery Program,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO. 

Since the three companies formalized their partnership, the sachets collected had so far been converted into 30,000 cement pavers to be donated to 30 beneficiary public schools. These include the Ilaya Elementary School in Tanay, Rizal; Dualtech Center in Canlubang, Laguna; Candau-ay Elementary School in Dumaguete; and Balulang National High School in Cagayan de Oro.

During the event in Mandaluyong, the partners also donated 7,000 cement pavers to the Mandaluyong Elementary School. The construction materials—made from hundreds of thousands of shredded empty sachets—will form pathways to improve school grounds and make walking around the school more convenient for students. 

Also during the event, the media got to see how the cement pavers are made. The pavers can replace a portion of sand and gravel in a cement mix and can be used for different purposes including for roads and building various infrastructure. To have 1,000 pavers, roughly 800 kilos of sachets will be needed.