SC Johnson Stops 40M kg Coastal Plastic
SC Johnson, a prominent manufacturer of popular household consumer brands including Windex®, Mr. Muscle®, Glade®, and OFF!®, has achieved a significant milestone in its partnership with Plastic Bank.
The company has successfully prevented 40 million kilograms of coastal plastic from polluting the ocean, which is equivalent to preventing 2 billion single-use bottles from entering the waterways.
SC Johnson has been committed to making the world a better place for decades by implementing sustainability initiatives that will have a positive impact on future generations.
In 2018, the company formed a partnership with Plastic Bank to prevent plastic from polluting the ocean and create new economic opportunities for disadvantaged communities. To date, this collaboration has established over 500 collection branches in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil and has provided support to more than 19,000 members of the collection community to achieve this significant milestone.
Fisk Johnson, the Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson, expressed his pride in the partnership with Plastic Bank and their joint efforts to prevent plastic from reaching the ocean or ending up in landfills. He emphasised the importance of reintroducing the captured plastic into products and packaging as a crucial step towards addressing the issue of ocean plastic pollution.
In addition, he commended the programme's ability to tackle poverty and establish a closed-loop supply chain, creating a positive impact on the environment and society. He emphasised the need for ongoing efforts to find innovative ways to preserve the health of our oceans for future generations.
Plastic Bank is a social enterprise that enables a recycling movement to prevent plastic waste from polluting the oceans and uses it as a form of currency to combat poverty. It identifies vulnerable coastlines worldwide that require plastic collection infrastructure and supports local entrepreneurs in establishing collection branches.
Recycling communities are organised to collect plastic within 31 miles of a coastline or an ocean-bound waterway that would otherwise end up in the ocean or landfills. The collected plastic is then exchanged by community members at these branches for a reliable source of income and other life-improving benefits that help them break the cycle of poverty. The collected material is then processed into Social Plastic® feedstock that can be reused in products and packaging.
David Katz, the founder of Plastic Bank, acknowledges that plastic pollution and poverty are two of the most significant global issues we face today. The partnership with SC Johnson has enabled Plastic Bank to make significant progress towards addressing these challenges. However, he stresses that their milestone achievement is just a small step towards tackling the vast amount of plastic still present in the environment. He believes that everyone has a role to play in creating a world where no material is wasted and no human is wasteful. Only then can we hope to achieve true success in mitigating these pressing issues.
Source: GLOBE NEWSWIRE
