Garnier Malaysia has kick-started its nationwide school education programme held at SMK Darul Ehsan in Selayang Baru as part of their green initiative under their Green Beauty campaign to cultivate and nurture the next generation of Green Heroes through education.
The launch was attended by Puan Hajah Marpuaton binti Sastero, Deputy Director of School Management Sector, Selangor State Education Department and I.S.Shanmugaraj Subramaniam, Executive Director of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).
The initiative kicked off with an interactive roadshow with fun activities and educational workshops held at SK Bestari 2 and SMK Seksyen 4 which received positive feedback from students and teachers.
"Through our Garnier Green Beauty initiative, we hope to make an impact, regardless of how big or small to ensure that we too, as a sustainable beauty brand do our part for the environment in the long run," said Chris Chan, Head of Garnier Malaysia. "And we believe in the power of education and that this nationwide school programme will nurture and cultivate little environmentalists who will be our next generation Green Heroes for a cleaner, greener Malaysia."
SMK Darul Ehsan was selected for the launch as the school is known for championing many green initiatives amongst their students and community. The school has various green initiatives such as a green house, rainwater harvesting system, agriculture and horticulture classes, collection hub for used cooking oil and fabric. The school is also well known for championing Eco-Bricks, where plastic bottles are packed tightly with non-biodegradable waste to use as building materials to create insulated walls or outdoor furniture.
Additionally, Garnier Malaysia in partnership with MNS will carry out educational school programme with aims to educate up to 1,000 teachers and thousands of students on recycling, upcycling, and ways to tackle plastic pollution. The students are also empowered to practice their newfound recycling knowledge with recycling bins provided by Garnier.
Garnier Malaysia and MNS also has plans to organize five beach clean-ups at selected locations in the country. The first beach cleanup was held on 25th of May at Pantai Remis in Kuala Selangor with 80 participants coming together to clean the long stretch of beach.
"Garnier is also pleased to have MNS join us on this journey as our partner for this initiative as they bring vast knowledge and experience to further add depth and results to achieving our overall goals together," Chan added.
I.S. Shanmugaraj, Executive Director of Malaysian Nature Society said that "This nationwide school education programme is in line with our direction and ambition towards educating students to spark their interest towards recycling and plastic waste management. These workshops are a fun and interactive way to introduce such topics to school children and we are pleased to have Garnier Malaysia onboard with us towards realizing a greener environment and sustainable future."
Green Beauty is Garnier's global initiative of an end-to-end approach to sustainability. This commitment has ambitious 2025 targets to dramatically reduce Garnier's overall environmental impact. The 2025 sustainability goals include ensuring all products to be made with zero virgin plastic, as well as changes to packaging to ensure that all materials are reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
Taking green measures at all steps of the brand's value chain, Garnier commits to having 100% of their industrial sites to be carbon neutral by 2025. Garnier also aims to empower 1,000 communities through their Solidarity Sourcing program.