SMART Communications Inc. (Smart) said the company is giving away free load in exchange for empty sachets of Unilever Philippines Inc. (UPI)’s Surf brand of detergent.
In a statement, Smart said empty sachets of Surf can be exchanged for 10 free SMS from Smart at any of Cebuana Lhuillier’s 1,946 branches nationwide.
The recovered sachets are then recycled and converted into pavers that are then donated to schools all over the country and to communities that were devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda in the Province of Leyte, Smart said in a statement.
“Through this partnership with UPI, we are able to help protect the environment, and at the same time, get potentially close to 70 million subscribers to participate in this endeavor so we have a bigger impact on sustainability. While we belong to three different industries, [we] share a common concern for the environment,” Smart President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno was quoted in a statement as saying.
Nazareno added that the project, called “Sachet Recovery Program,” or SRP, is an example of an initiative for corporate social responsibility “that is closely tied up with our respective core businesses.”
While not saying until when the project would end, Nazareno said: “This makes it easier to sustain and propagate.”
Nazareno said the 3-year-old project doubled the number of free texts from only five in the previous years. Smart also expanded the promo beyond Smart Prepaid to also include subscribers of Talk ’N Text and Sun Cellular.
Smart said the project is just of many it is investing in for environmental protection.
It said it has explored “environmentally sound merchandising solutions” and is the first company to use stone paper for its merchandising awnings.
Smart said it has also been upcycling used tarpaulins that scavengers in a village in lloilo transforms into bags.
Smart said it has installed the country’s first wind-powered cell site in 2006, on the island of Malapascua in northern Cebu to make operations viable in off-grid areas, where a great part of the cost goes to diesel consumption and hauling costs. The company said it has since successfully used wind and solar energy to power cell sites in remote locations nationwide.
Smart said it is also one of the main proponents of the Marikina Watershed Initiative that aims to reforest, rehabilitate and protect the Upper Marikina Water Basin, whose denuded state was cited as one of the main reasons for the massive flooding in Metro Manila.
Smartsaid it has been actively supporting the initiative by providing livelihood to the communities, establishing a seedling nursery, rehabilitating the watershed through tree-nurturing activities and promoting public awareness on the importance of saving the watershed.
Smart said it has been planting trees since 2005 as part of its climate mitigation efforts and has planted more than 1 million trees in adopted upland watersheds and coastal areas.