Clean Water Sustainability
Unilever Philippines commitment to a cleaner, greener river starts within our plant. The factory continues to achieve reductions in amounts of water used and wastewater generated during manufacturing processes,
WATER
Our factory in Paco is at the heart of the city of Manila straddling between small tributaries of the Pasig River – a 25km waterway stretching between Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay. The dreadful state and realities of the river are things that Unilever employees see and smell everyday.
Operations
Unilever Philippines’ commitment to a cleaner, greener river starts within our plant. The factory continues to achieve reductions in amounts of water used and wastewater generated during manufacturing processes. Perhaps our best-known on-site contribution is the company’s Domestic Waste Water Treatment Plan – the first such plant in Metro Manila, completed in 1998.
Neighbors
Unilever conducts regular clean-up drives and community-based waste management training in neighboring communities. Some of the contributions that Unilever made in Paco market are the provision of a waste composting machine, provision of drums to collect items for recycling, repairing and maintaining the market’s restrooms and producing leaflets encouraging cleanliness and waste management. And every year, the company mobilizes at least 500 volunteers composed of employees, students and neighboring communities in cleaning up the Manila Bay shoreline.
Wider Advocacy
Unilever, together with the Sagip Pasig Movement (Revive the Pasig River Movement), launched a community based initiative called the Clean River Zones (CRZ) – these are organized communities composed of government, NGO’s, academe, media, industries and residents who work together to pursue the rehabilitation of the Pasig River.
Efforts were also put into play to campaign for the sustainability of Laguna de Bay – the only alternative freshwater source for the Southern Metro Manila areas. It started with a quest to gain global membership for the lake with the Living Lakes Network. To comply with the challenges of the candidacy, a Conservation of Laguna de Bay’s Environment and Resources (CLEAR) was formed, a tripartite group composed of Unilever, Laguna Lake Development Authority and an NGO – the Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands. It is this group that also launched the first ever Tree-preneur Program here in the country.
Unilever also supports the reforestation of La Mesa Watershed. A total of 75 hectares have been adopted and repopulated by Unilever with locally grown trees.
