FOR mobile leader Smart Communications Inc., no deed is too small when it comes to sustaining the environment and contributing to the global effort to address climate change.
For over a decade now, Smart, under its employee volunteerism program, has been encouraging employees to render community service in the form of planting trees and mangrove in adopted watersheds and coastlines all over the country.
For Smart employees based in the Visayas, tree planting has become a regular activity with over 3,000 seedlings and mangrove propagules planted so far this year.
Smart employee volunteers recently planted over a thousand mangrove propagules in Tongo Islet, South Road Properties, Cebu City, in celebration of the International Day of Forests. The activity was in partnership with the Office of City Councilor Nida Cabrera. The employees were joined by volunteers from the Bantay Dagat and from the city government.
“As an employee, I’m so proud and it makes me happy that Smart is involved in this kind of activity. It gives me the opportunity to promote a greener and sustainable community. Keep it up Smart,” said Neil Ian Abueva, senior engineer for Cebu operations, who volunteered for the mangrove planting in Tongo Islet.
Meanwhile, Smart employees based in Iloilo trooped to Guimaras and planted 1,111 mangrove seedlings in Taklong Island National Marine Reserve in Nueva Valencia, in June.
Smart has adopted 5 hectares of mangrove plantation in the area with 2 hectares already planted with the help of volunteers from the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources–Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office Guimaras, as well as people’s organizations San Roque Coastal Environment Program Association and La Paz Fisherfolks and Aquatic Resources Mangrove Management Association.
“While we are planting mangroves, I think of it as planting also for our future,” said Homer Ecang, a senior engineer based in Iloilo.
The planting of mangroves in coastal areas not only help preserve biodiversity, but also protects coastal communities from storm surges.
Reforestation is also being actively pursued upland with more than 1,000 seedlings of mahogany and lawaan trees planted inside the 303rd Infantry Brigade Camp in Barangay Minoyan, Murcia, Negros Occidental in July.
Smart employees were joined by volunteers from the Army and the Negros Press Club along with their kids.
“This is a challenge to our partner agencies to do their own share of healing Mother Earth,” said Dolores Epacta, president of the Negros Press Club. Smart has been planting trees since 2005 in a bid to offset greenhouse emissions in its operations. Its adopted sites include the Ipo Dam and Marikina watersheds; Calatagan, Subic, Mount Banahaw, Puerto Princesa and Cagsao in Camarines Sur for Luzon; Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Negros Oriental and Occidental, Iloilo, Guimaras and Bohol for the Visayas; and Misamis Oriental, Surigao, Zamboanga, Sarangani, Digos, Davao City, and Tawi-Tawi in Mindanao.
Smart is also one of the main drivers behind the Marikina Watershed Initiative, a broad-based, public-private partnership launched by the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation to help protect, reforest and rehabilitate the area which serves as a catch basin for Metro Manila and adjacent provinces.
To reduce the carbon footprint of its operations, Smart has adopted the Green Merchandising campaign that involves the use of eco-friendly materials instead of traditional plastic-based solutions for its packaging and outdoor advertising materials, such as awnings, tarpaulins, and bags for its mobile-phone kits.
The company has pioneered the use of merchandising materials made of stone paper, which poses the least harm to the environment. It has been using recycled paper instead of virgin paper when producing posters, flyers and other paper-based materials with about half a million of its flyers already made of newsprint.
Beyond business, it has also been encouraging its employees to embrace an eco-friendly lifestyle.