Sustainability is at the core of Coca-Cola’s way of doing business. From supporting women entrepreneurs to its many recycling and packaging collection programs — Coca-Cola has been at the forefront of industry initiatives towards inclusive, sustainable solutions in the Philippines. Together with Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, the social development arm of Coca-Cola in the country, the company has forged longstanding partnerships through the years to help contribute local solutions to strengthen community efforts on solid waste management.
One partner of Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines is marine conservation social enterprise Pure Oceans. The collaboration aims to train and empower communities and their women leaders to create waste management solutions that have a lasting impact.
Pure Oceans is composed of change maker women led by founder, Pia Roxas-Ocampo, an advertising consultant by profession, and a scuba diver and marine advocate at heart. The organization works with coastal communities to achieve sustainable solutions against plastic litter, with its flagship project in the Philippines, Linis Islas, running in Tingloy, Batangas.
Linis Islas is an advocacy program that has given women the power to lead and transform their communities by educating more people, especially in litter-vulnerable islands. It also established buying programs at Barangay Santo Tomas in Tingloy and Barangay San Teodoro in Mabini, Batangas to encourage communities to source clean and segregated plastics from coastal island communities for recycling or upcycling.
Tingloy, a fifth-class municipality comprising Maricaban and Caban Islands and other small islets in Batangas with a total population of less than 20,000, remains geographically isolated and at risk of solid waste accumulation and pollution; the island faces daily logistics and transport challenges in its solid waste management system.
As of Q1 this year, the Pure Oceans project has diverted 29,585 kg of plastic waste from oceans, including film and multilayer plastics, and types 1 to 6 plastics; established three materials recovery facilities; and provided solid waste management design training to 170 participants—80 percent of whom are women—in 15 barangays.
Despite the grave impact of the pandemic on various sectors, the project was able to provide livelihood opportunities to women by funding their communities and encouraging them to segregate waste, recycle and earn extra income for every bottle recovered in their household. In Q1 of 2021 alone, Pure Oceans was able to provide a Php 26,000 monthly income to 11 plastic buying program staff, mostly composed of women, while beneficiaries were able to recover 32 tons of plastic waste—equivalent to at least Php 156,852—from the ocean since 2018./PN
