Watsons Philippines, in partnership with mall operator SM, participated in this year’s International Coastal Cleanup Day on 21 September at SM by the Bay in Pasay City. 

The leading health, beauty, and wellness retailer in the Philippines reiterates its commitment to the ‘Planet’ pillar, which aims to reduce, if not alleviate environmental problems that the country continues to face. 

“Together with SM, we recognize that there are a lot of things we can do to help clean up… We hope that activities like these will help create awareness of the current problem and inspire everyone to take action,” Sharon Decapia, SAVP for Marketing, PR & Sustainability of Watsons Philippines said in an interview. 

With the help of 110 employees -- not to mention the thousands of volunteers from different organizations and communities -- Watsons collected a total of 115,200 kilograms of trash from the coastal area, 15,000 kilograms more than last year’s total. 

Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga in a speech during the event said that every citizen is responsible for creating a healthier environment for all. 

“Mensahe lang po ng DENR ngayon, ang basurang tinatapon natin, kakainin rin po natin,” she said. 

In line with their responsibility to ‘go beyond’ promoting just health and beauty, Watsons continuously takes initiatives to make a more sustainable environment and adopt environmentally-conscious habits. 

“We have recycling bins already in select stores, and we’re rolling them out in more stores, which will basically allow our customers to drop their empty beauty bottles to really help reduce plastic and encourage recycling,” Decapia said. 

Watsons remains the top personal care and beauty retailer in Asia, with over 8,000 stores worldwide.