Unilever Thailand partners with Tops Market and SCGC to officially launch Refill Station, encouraging consumers to reuse plastic for the health of the planet

Ms. Annemarieke de Haan, Head of Country at Unilever Thailand, reveals that according to the Mega Trends survey in Thailand, 73% of Thai consumers are concerned about climate change, and 72% wants to create positive environmental impact through their daily living. This shows that Thai consumers have interest in environmental protection and restoration. Unilever Thailand therefore responds to the needs of consumers to form a collaboration with Tops Market to launch its first Refill Station at Tops Market Central Westgate.

Officially opened on July 14, 2022, Unilever's Refill Station provides consumers the accessibility and possibility to improve the health of the planet at the source. Tops customers can bring their own clean and dry plastic 1 liter bottle or more to refill Comfort Daily Fresh Ultra fabric softerner (https://www.unileverprokhum.com/ComfortUltraBlue/) with special concentrated formula empowered with fabric protection technology and is environmentally friendly, up to 90% biodegradable and Comfort Pure (https://www.unileverprokhum.com/ComfortPure/) with 100% natural ingredients, gentle formula on the skin and has been tested for skin irritation by the Institute of Dermatologists. Consumers rest asure about the quality of products from Refill Station as it has the same standard of quality as the original product on shelf. Furthermore, the Refill Station helps consumers reduce their cost of living by saving up to 30% with just 5 easy steps.

"To ensure a sustainable future, we believe we have to rethink our plastic system. As the leading manufacturer, we have the opportunity - and the responsibility - to make sure that we keep plastic within a circular economy and out of the environment. Unilever is determined to find innovative ways to decrease our plastic waste, increase our use of recycled materials, reduce plastic waste, and ensure no waste goes to landfills in our factories. Our goal is to halve the amount of virgin plastic we use in our packaging and use packaging that can be reuse, recycled or compost 100%. Moreover, we will collect and process more plastic packaging than we sell," Ms. Annemarieke de Haan added.

Mr. Chakkit Chatupanyachotikul, Head of Marketing, Public Relations & CSV of Central Food Retail under Central Retail, said, "Over the past 26 years, Tops continues to be the leading supermarket in Thailand, we have always recognized the importance of showing responsibility to people, communities and the environment through various projects. In this recent partnership with Unilever Thailand, we want to help the society by introducing the first refill station in Thailand's supermarket to reduce single-use plastic and promote reusing. Our customers can also save money as refilling is cheaper and they can also reduce plastic waste, which will benefit the environment and people. We expect that refill products will be more and more popular in the future as modern consumers care about the environment. Tops is ready to support sustainable plastic waste management. The key is not only will this reduce the use of plastic waste, but it is important that everyone must play a part and collaborate, by rethinking their packaging design for eco-design so that packaging can be reuse, following the Circular Economy concept.

Ms. Annemarieke de Haan added: "Since 2019, Unilever has started an in-house Refill Station which has been well responded by our employees. In addition to the reuse of plastic packaging, we also emphasize on the importance of circular economy. Unilever has partnered with SCGC to turn Post-Consumer Plastics into High Quality Post-Consumer Recycled Resin for packaging bottles under SCGC GREEN POLYMERTM brand and join forces in the "Plastic Sorting for the Better" (Yak Dee Mee Tae Dai) project to encourage and incentivise community to be part in circular econoy by managing waste properly". Unilever has also partnered with various organizations and have participated in various business alliances on sustainable development projects to raise awareness on environmental and plastic waste issues, such as the Magic Hand Project, the PIM Recycling Business project and the Send Plastic Home Project.

Unilever is the leader of Thailand's consumer goods market and uses post-consumer recycled (PCR) packaging of up to 4,000 tons annually and domestically. Many of the company's brands, such as Sunlight, Comfort, Sunsilk and Dove, now use PCR packaging bottles. On top of this, Unilever has replaced Wall's ice cream cups from plastic to paper, which can reduce up to 200 tons of plastic waste per year. All of these attempts have create demand for plastic waste sorting and storage in order to bring recyclable plastic wastes back into the system.

At Unilever, good environment and well-being of the world and people are at the heart of the sustainability operations. Although Unilever is currently ranked by Globescan as the number one sustainable business organization in the world, we continue to encourage all sectors, both the public and private sectors, to work together to help improve the quality of life of 68 million Thais in terms of well-being, environmental impact reduction at sources, and good quality of life development for society

"We hope the Refill Station will raise broader awareness on the importance of sustainable and healthy planet. We want to encourage all consumers to play a part in reducing environmental impact through their daily lives by reusing plastic packaging at the Unilever's Refill Station" said Ms. Annemarieke de Haan.

For more SCG innovation for living solutions, better communities, and a healthier environment please visit https://www.scg.com/esg/ https://scgnewschannel.com /Facebook:scgnewschannel / Twitter: @scgnewschannel / Line@: @scgnewschannel

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