Coca‑Cola Singapore and Singapore paddle club in partnership towards a cleaner, greener Singapore

SINGAPORE, 24 September 2019 – In an effort to address environmental challenges such as packaging waste and marine litter, Coca‑Cola Singapore is partnering with the Singapore Paddle Club (SPC) to introduce the “Ocean Clean-Up, Adopt an Island” programme. Both parties will be working towards achieving no more marine debris around the coastal areas of Lazarus Island, with the aim of enhancing awareness and driving behavioural change amongst Singaporeans on the importance of keeping the country’s environment free of waste.

Through this programme, Coca‑Cola Singapore and SPC will jointly conduct more than 24 clean-up visits (or at least twice a month) to Lazarus Island, whereby each visit will see up to 60 people paddling outrigger canoes to the island, spending two to three hours collecting plastic and non-organic rubbish to tackle the issue of waste on the island’s shores. The goal is to remove all waste and maintain this through regular clean-ups. All the collected waste will then be brought back to the mainland and taken to the appropriate disposal or recycling facilities.

This partnership is in line with The Coca‑Cola Company’s World Without Waste vision, to collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of the packaging sold by 2030. It will also support the Singapore Government’s 30 by 30 vision of reducing waste sent to landfills by 30% by 2030.

More than 40 volunteers from Coca‑Cola Singapore and members of the Singapore Paddle Club (SPC) gathered at Lazarus Island to clean up its shores, in conjunction with the launch of its “Ocean Clean Up, Adopt an Island” partnership. More than 380kg of trash comprising of plastic straws and plastic bags were collected at the inaugural clean-up event on 21 September.

“We are proud to be working with the Singapore Paddle Club to clean up the shores of Lazarus Island as it is in line with our goal of creating a cleaner, greener Singapore. Through our World Without Waste vision for long-term sustainability, we are building on SPC’s existing ties to Lazarus Island to continuously conduct clean-ups during their regular visits. We believe that when we all come together through concerted, collective action, we can make a meaningful lasting difference to our environment,” said Sharon Tan, Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Coca‑Cola Singapore and Malaysia.

“The SPC has been conducting Ocean Clean-up over the past 10 years and we have witnessed first-hand the increasing amount of plastic in our oceans and waterways. In fact, during our last clean up activity in July this year, we collected approximately 600kg of waste in a single beach in Singapore. We believe that there is a clear and present need to create a structured programme such as the “Ocean Clean-Up, Adopt an Island” partnership with Coca‑Cola Singapore that encourages active participation, improves understanding on the importance of recycling and also creates measurable and sustained change in society’s behaviour with respect to keeping our oceans and waterways clean,” said Frederic Cabay, President of SPC.

In addition to the “Ocean Clean-Up, Adopt an Island” programme, SPC will be organising the first-ever zero waste paddling competition, with the support of Coca‑Cola Singapore. Named the Singapore Ocean

Cup Race Without Waste, all single-use plastics will not be allowed throughout the two-day event, setting a global precedent to be adopted at all water-related sporting events.

Taking on a collaborative approach to deliver real, sustainable impact, the Coca‑Cola Singapore-SPC “Ocean Clean-Up, Adopt an Island” partnership will also be extended to both secondary and tertiary education institutes and Singapore-based corporations. This aims to help Singaporeans of all ages do their part in reducing and correctly recycling waste, highlighting that plastic, glass and aluminium can be given a second life. Efforts will also be made to partner with government-led initiatives such as ‘Active-Agers’, to work with all communities towards a cleaner and greener Singapore.

For Coca‑Cola Singapore, these initiatives tie in with its wider World Without Waste initiatives globally. Since 1995, Coca‑Cola has been the lead sponsor of the world’s largest volunteer effort benefiting the marine environment through its partnership with Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Clean-up. Over the course of that partnership, the company has helped mobilise millions of volunteers across over 100 countries, to clean up 220 million pounds of trash from coastlines globally.

For media queries, please contact:

White Rook Advisory, on behalf of Coca‑Cola Singapore

Lim Wen Yi
Associate
Contact Number: +65 9771 9643
Email: wenyi@white-rook.com

Singapore Paddle Club

Frederic Cabay
President
Contact Number: +65 9023 4181
Email: president@singaporepaddleclub.com

About Coca‑Cola Singapore

The Coca‑Cola system in Singapore manufactures, markets and distributes more than 40 different beverages options in Singapore, of which 55 percent are lower or no sugar options to help people in Singapore enjoy the great tastes they know and love while managing their sugar intake. In addition to our namesake Coca‑Cola drinks, some of our leading brands in Singapore include: Fanta, Sprite, A&W, Schweppes, Minute Maid juices, Aquarius isotonic drinks, Heaven and Earth teas, Georgia coffee, Dasani waters, glacéau vitaminwater and Zico coconut water. Coca‑Cola has been refreshing Singaporeans for over 80 years and is committed to making a lasting, positive difference in the local community.

For more information about Coca‑Cola Singapore visit: www.coca-cola.com/sg/en

About Singapore Paddle Club

The Singapore Paddle Club is a non-profit club formed in 2004 at Sentosa Island, Singapore, by a small group of ocean paddling enthusiasts. The club now has over 170 Singapore based members of all ages from more than 30 different countries. Although all are amateur athletes, many have significant international experience. SPC club members have won world and Asian titles in disciplines such as Stand Up Paddleboard and Surfski. The club has won many medals (including a number of world titles) at the Club Crew World Dragon Boat competition which is held every two years. The club regularly participates in overseas outrigger canoe races, the most recent being the International Va’a Federation’s World Distance Championships for outrigger canoeing. The Singapore Ocean Cup, now in its 11th year, is one of the biggest ocean racing events in Asia. In 2018, the race had over 400 paddlers competing over 2 days across multiple ocean paddling events. The Ocean Cup is now an established event on the global paddling calendar and attracts teams and champions from around the world.