P&G and Watsons support SM Cares and Plastic Credit Exchange to boost and incentivize plastic waste collection this Holiday season
More people are becoming environmentally conscious as pressing climate issues to arise on a global scale. This keeps multinational FMCG company Procter & Gamble (P&G) Philippines committed to achieving its environmental sustainability goals under P&G Ambition 2030. It aims to reduce carbon footprint, conserve resources, and restore the world in the environmental areas of Waste, Water, and Climate by enabling responsible consumption across their brands, supply chain, employees, and with external partners such as their customers and consumers.
In line with this, P&G partners with Watsons, the health and beauty care chain store, and SM Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Supermalls, to support SM’s Plastic Waste Collection Program (PWC) with NGO Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX) and with program sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nestle Philippines, and Colgate-Palmolive Philippines. The program aims to reduce plastic waste in landfills and oceans through proper plastic segregation and disposal. The malls become venues for customers, tenants, and surrounding offices to participate actively in the circular economy or the reuse of plastic material.
Collect and Drop Off Plastic Waste to Earn Shopping Perks with P&G and Watsons
Through P&G’s support, consumers who will turn in their used plastic products and other waste until December 20 will be given 10% discount incentives (redeemable via QR code points) on selected Safeguard and Oral B products when they buy in any Watsons branch.
Consumers can donate their plastic waste daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Blue PWC container vans are located in the following malls to date – SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, SM City North EDSA, SM City Fairview, SM City Marikina, SM City East Ortigas, SM Marilao, and SM Southmall.
The PWC program accepts all kinds of plastic wastes excluding PVC pipes and materials. Examples are plastic sando bags, PET and HDPE bottles, Styrofoam, disposable containers, utensils and straw, sachets, snack packs, shampoo, conditioner and detergent containers, bubble wrap, e-commerce pouches and small tires. The plastics must be empty, clean and dry.
PCX will then weigh and haul the plastics and bring them to valorizing affiliates which co-process them as coal alternative for cement manufacturing, into paver blocks or planks, and soon recycled PET bottles.
P&G’s Ambition 2030 as a business priority
For P&G’s part, the company has already made innovative changes in reducing, recycling, and recovering waste to make their commitments into reality. By the end of the decade, the company is eyeing to eliminate the use of virgin plastic by 50 percent and make product packaging 100% recyclable and reusable.
Specific to its products, Safeguard multipacks now use 100% recycled paper cartons from previous virgin plastic overwrap packaging. This reduces 8,500 km of potential plastic waste, or a thousand times the length of the Boracay coastline. Additionally, Herbal Essences shampoo bottles are now made of 25% post-consumer resins which are upcycled plastic waste. Furthermore, P&G has partnered with World Vision’s Pag-asa Sa Basura initiative that enabled the upcycling of recovered sachets into 2,000 classroom chairs that were donated to partner elementary schools.
More than waste management, P&G also supports water conservation. In their Cabuyao plant, water consumption is tracked, and wastewater is recycled. When it comes to climate, the company’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 is already underway. Its local Cabuyao manufacturing plant, for example, has already reduced 80% of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by shifting to 100% renewable electricity. P&G has also recently announced a new global ambition to achieve net-zero GHG emissions across its operations and supply chain, from raw material to retailer, by 2040.
For more detailed information about P&G’s commitments and progress, please see https://us.pg.com/environmental-sustainability/.
