SIG’s innovative initiative with social enterprise SO+MA House Brazil is promoting recycling by enabling people in the city of Curitiba to exchange waste packaging for reward points they can use to pay for food and other essentials.
Image: SO+MA House is the only loyalty program in Brazil that is available to low income people free of charge. Photo: Courtesy of SIG Combibloc Group Ltd.
Changing behavior is critical to enable lasting positive change for the environment and the SO+MA House initiative aims to stimulate a change in attitudes by demonstrating the value of recycling to individuals and communities.
Officially opened by the Mayor of Curitiba at the beginning of May, SIG’s SO+MA House partnership has already encouraged scores of local people to bring in used packaging for recycling. Over six tons of material has been collected since the pilot program began in December 2018.
Isabela De Marchi, SIG’s sustainability coordinator in South America, said: “We know it will only be possible to increase packaging recycling rates with the support of consumers. The partnership with SO+MA House is helping us show people the value of recycling on a personal level, as well as bringing wider environmental and socio-economic benefits.”
SO+MA House is the only loyalty program in Brazil that is available to low income people free of charge. Reward points are earned based on the weight of waste collected. They can be exchanged for food or other essentials, or used to pay for training courses.
This innovative model to promote recycling not only brings environmental benefits, but also socio-economic benefits by offering people in low-income communities an opportunity to improve their quality of life by saving money on essentials or learning skills to open the door to new job opportunities.
Rafael Greca, the Mayor of Curitiba, said: “The idea of rewarding people is very clever. It is an innovative green exchange. We are launching a solution that is adding value for people, offering vocational courses that will help families, young people and the unemployed advance and improve their quality of life. I want to promote the power of recycling among Curitibanos and save our planet.”
SIG’s partnership with SO+MA House is a great local example of how the company is going Way Beyond Good by putting more into society and the environment than it takes out. Partnering with stakeholders to support the collection and recycling of beverage cartons around the world is part of this commitment.
Recycling helps to avoid environmental impacts from landfill and support the circular economy by making more materials available to be used again to make new products. But recycling after use is just one aspect of the company’s contribution to the circular economy, which begins at the start of the product life-cycle in the use of mainly renewable materials and the design of the packs to be fully recyclable.
Source: Company Press Release.