Last October 3, Head & Shoulders led 45 volunteers in collecting trash from the sandy shores of Subic Bay in partnership with The Plastic Solution Philippines. While it may come as a surprise for some to find one of the world’s largest shampoo brands spearhead a beach cleanup activity, this is just one of the activities lined up under the #HeadsTogetherForTheBetter campaign, which aims to inspire collaboration and collective action in reducing plastic pollution and raising awareness on recycling plastic products and consumer waste.
Doing its part to address the world’s plastic waste problem
The global shampoo brand showed its local support in committing to P&G’s global effort to reduce plastic waste flowing into our oceans with this weekend activity. After collecting 245 kilograms of trash within 60 minutes along the shoreline of Subic Bay at sunset, the 45 volunteers participated in the Sustainability Workshop that offered valuable knowledge on segregation, recycling, and how the use of eco-bricks can prevent plastic waste from polluting our seas while also providing durable and affordable building materials for communities. The workshop also provided tips in making lifestyle changes to reduce one’s environmental footprint and consumption of single-use plastics.
The activity culminated with the advanced screening of “ACTIVATE: Ending Plastic Pollution,” a documentary series by the National Geographic in partnership with Procter & Gamble and Global Citizen on the tremendous impact of plastic pollution on marginal communities in the Philippines.
The fifth episode of this series zooms into the truth about the increasing problem in ocean plastic pollution. Pharrell Williams joins Global Citizen’s push to get governments, companies, and individuals to solve the ocean plastic pollution crisis. Meanwhile, Darren Criss travels to the Philippines to witness how plastic waste impacts people living in extreme poverty and calls on global citizens to urge their mayors to commit their cities to zero-waste futures. Experts describe the disproportionate impact of plastic pollution on people in developing countries and the ways people and brands are solving the problem around the world.
The docuseries also sheds light on how a global corporate giant like P&G and a brand like Head & Shoulders can do its part in offering solutions within its realm of product manufacturing through its bottle packaging innovation with the use of recycled beach plastic.
In 2018, Head & Shoulders, along with Procter & Gamble’s other haircare brands, committed to use 2,600 metric tons of recycled plastic to produce the half billion bottles that package its product. In 2017, the brand had launched limited-edition bottles made from recycled beach plastic in France by partnering with experts in recycling. TerraCycle led hundreds of volunteers in collecting and sorting plastic from various beaches in Europe, while SUEZ took charge of cleaning these collected plastics and converted them into pellets that were sent to P&G to be used for producing shampoo bottle packaging.
P&G’s Ambition 2030
Ambition 2030 aims to enable and inspire positive impact on the environment and society while creating value for the company and consumers. Ambition 2030 goals span P&G’s brands, supply chain, society and its employees. Included in Ambition 2030 is a commitment that 100% of its leadership brands will enable and inspire responsible consumption; for the packaging to be 100% recyclable or reusable; and for the society to benefit so that no P&G packaging will find its way to the ocean.
As a brand that continuously improves in consumer goods performance while decreasing negative environmental impact, may this be a call to take urgent actions and participate in recycling, effective waste segregation, and keep our #HeadsTogether for a better environment for the future generations to live in.
Know more about the true condition of our environment, particularly our country by streaming ACTIVATE: Ending Plastic Pollution now: https://nationalgeographic.com/activate/ending-plastic-pollution/
Photographs by Sam Macaisa
