Danone-AQUA and H&M Indonesia strengthened the bottle2fashion initiative by launching an online campaign entitled “Cleaning-Up for the Future” worldwide, which was carried out through the production of children's clothing collections made from recycled plastic bottles. Furthermore, the collection will be marketed at H&M sites and sales outlets throughout the world, including in Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa, and countries in Oceania. This global campaign aims to educate consumers, including children, to start caring about the issue of plastic waste in the oceans and to take part in maintaining environmental hygiene for a sustainable future.
In Indonesia, this collection is available at ID.HM.COM, as well as in 12 H&M stores spread across Jabodetabek, Surabaya, Bandung and Bali. The bottle2fashion initiative is a form of partnership between Danone-AQUA and H&M Indonesia to introduce a circular production process by utilizing used plastic bottles as a more sustainable raw material and reusing them into everyday wearable fashion products.
This initiative was initiated in 2017 along with the inauguration of the Alliance for Marine Plastic Solutions Forum (AMPS) by the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment as a form of commitment of the two companies in supporting the Indonesian Government's efforts to reduce 70% of waste in the oceans by 2025, as well as efforts to reduce plastic pollution. to near zero by 2040 "
Through the bottle2fashion initiative that was built with H&M Indonesia so far, Danone AQUA has managed to collect 129 tons of used plastic bottles from the Thousand Islands and the coast of Jakarta. This is a concrete form of preventing plastic waste from entering the ocean, which is also a manifestation of our #BijakBerplastik movement, ”said Senior Sustainable Packaging Manager, Danone Indonesia, Ratih Anggraeni. "Together with our NGO partners, we also involve the community, school age children, and the local Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis) to start sorting waste and bringing it to community waste banks, school waste banks, and plastic waste collectors that we also empower, as part of the ecosystem. collection and recycling "
The used plastic bottles are collected and then all are taken to the Recycling Business Unit (RBU) assisted by Danone-AQUA in South Tangerang to be re-sorted, chopped, and cleaned. Furthermore, the chopped plastic is sent to H&M Indonesia's production facilities to be processed into polyester fiber and converted into a variety of fashion products that are marketed in almost all H&M outlets around the world.
"We are very proud that finally together with Danone-AQUA, we can launch this Cleaning-Up for the Future campaign, to realize the vision of being 100% circular while using renewable resources. This collection of children's clothing made from recycled plastic bottles is also an effort to achieve H & M's ambition to use 100% recycled and sustainable materials by 2030, "said Communications Manager, H&M Indonesia, Karina Soegarda.
The entire supply chain of this children's clothing collection reflects the efforts of Danone AQUA and H&M Indonesia to consistently create innovative solutions to the issue of plastic waste in the oceans holistically, where the benefits are not only for Indonesia, but can be felt by the whole world.
The campaign also sends a message that innovative and broad-based solutions can only be achieved through multi-stakeholder collaboration built with other industry players, communities, NGOs, educational institutions, the media and the government.
Danone-AQUA is the first FMCG company in Indonesia to be B-Corp certified, which is the highest standard of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. Danone-AQUA has pioneered environmentally friendly reuse gallons since 1984 and launched the AQUA Peduli recycling program in 1993. As a pioneer of sustainable business practices, Danone-AQUA continues to encourage the #BijakBerplastik movement through collaboration with various parties, so that the habit of reducing, reuse and recycle is increasingly growing in society. Danone-AQUA itself constantly encourages innovations that support the realization of a circular economy, including AQUA LIFE, a 100% rPET and recyclable bottle packaging.
