LIVERPOOL FC AND SC JOHNSON PARTNER IN GOALS FOR CHANGE

TACKLING PRESSING PLASTIC PROBLEMS WITH ‘GOALS FOR CHANGE’ PARTNERSHIP
Liverpool Legend Luis García on a new partnership to help reduce plastic waste from stadiums and positively influence fans

• 24% have been positively influenced by footballers and clubs to become more sustainable
• 91% of UK adults have been positively influenced by a football club or player
• 57% think clubs are in a good position to help combat societal issues

Football plays such an important role in our lives that it is unique in having the power to bring people together, break down barriers, instil positive values and inspire major societal change, with 91% of UK adults saying they’re positively influenced by a club or player, according to new research from SC Johnson.

To see this positive effect during the pandemic, you need look no further than to Premier League clubs and their players taking the knee in the fight against racism, Marcus Rashford forcing a U-turn over free school meals and Jordan Henderson masterminding a fundraising initiative among his peers to support the NHS.

Indeed, more than half (57%) of us think football clubs are well placed to help combat societal issues such as climate change, inequality, and poverty with their efforts positively influencing 24% to become more sustainable, 35% to support child food poverty and 33% to donate to charity.

With fans flocking back to stadia to support their clubs and the world looking to address the need to cut plastic waste and de-carbonise, football provides the perfect platform to affect a positive change in behaviour that will be beneficial both locally and globally, helping to create a more sustainable world and tackle plastic pollution.

Plastic waste is a threat to the planet, from the air we breathe to the food we eat, and we all have a responsibility to solve this critical environmental issue, according to SC Johnson, a company teaming up with Liverpool Football Club to repurpose the more than 500,000 plastic drinks bottles used at Anfield each season into new product packaging. As part of their vision for a waste free world, SC Johnson and Liverpool FC have developed a closed loop recycling model for plastic. Fans at Anfield stadium will be encouraged to put their plastic waste in specially designed receptacles at the ground. This will then be collected and repurposed to create new Mr Muscle® cleaning trigger bottles, manufactured by SC Johnson.

The Goals for Change partnership will focus on initiatives to improve sustainability, health and hygiene as well as provide pathways to greater economic and social mobility for underserved young people across the club’s communities in the UK, Asia and Latin America.

Luis García, who helped Liverpool FC become European champions in 2005, knows only too well the influence football clubs and players can have on fans. The former Spain winger became a firm favourite with the Kop in his three years at Anfield, scoring crucial goals, including semi-final winners - both against Chelsea - as Liverpool won the Champions League (2005) and the FA Cup (2006). He also played for Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.

As a Liverpool ambassador nowadays, García can also discuss the importance of supporting sustainability, with the club launching The Red Way earlier this year, and how this new partnership with SC Johnson will help further mobilise fans not just in Merseyside but beyond to act in ways that will protect the future for us all.

Shot list:

1. GVs Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago Alcântara in Liverpool training ground

2. GVs Luis Garcia in Anfield

                Walking out on pitch

                Placing bottle in SC Johnson bin

                Sanitizing hands in SC Johnson dispenser

3. SC Johnson and Liverpool FC press conference - Synch Sound

4. GVs Liverpool and SC Johnson branding

5. GVs Anfield exterior

6. Interview clips Luis Garcia

7. Interview clips Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

8. Interview clips Thiago Alcântara

The partnership is SC Johnson’s latest step in its commitment to create a more sustainable world and tackle the issue of plastic pollution. To date, here are ways the company has already worked to address this global issue:

• In 2019, SC Johnson announced an expanded global partnership with Plastic Bank to stop plastic waste from entering the ocean and fight poverty. As part of the 3-year partnership, 30,000 metric tons of ocean-bound plastic will be collected, the equivalent of preventing approximately 1.5 billion plastic bottles from entering the world’s oceans. The collected plastic is upcycled into new product packaging including Mr Muscle® Platinum Window & Glass Cleaner in the UK and Windex® in North America.
• The company has committed to making 100% of its plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable, along with tripling the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic content, by 2025. Currently, 65% of SC Johnson plastic packaging is designed to be recyclable or reusable , and 19% of SC Johnson’s packaging is PCR, up from 14% in 2019. And since February 2021, all Mr Muscle® trigger bottles sold in the UK are now made using 100% PCR plastic.
• SC Johnson is committed to continuing to remove excess plastics wherever possible. The company has eliminated more than 6.1 million kilograms of unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging since 2018.
• SC Johnson introduced the company’s first concentrated refill in the UK in 2019 for its Mr Muscle® line of cleaning products. These concentrate bottles use about 80% less plastic compared to a typical trigger bottle. Additionally, the company’s brand Ecover® is currently testing refill stations in Belgium, Netherlands, and the UK, with participation from retailers Delhaize, Albert Heijn, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
• In 2019, SC Johnson signed on as the 10th global partner with Ellen MacArthur Foundation to help advance a circular economy. The multi-year partnership builds on SC Johnson's decades long journey to improve the sustainability of its products. As part of this effort, the company has spent years working with industry experts to understand barriers to circularity and to find solutions to overcome them.
• Over the last two years, SC Johnson has formed first-of-its kind partnerships with US professional sports teams, like the Milwaukee Bucks and Milwaukee Brewers, to implement new recycling initiatives to better recycle the more than one million plastic cups that are used at the teams’ respective stadiums throughout their seasons. The cups collected will then be turned into 100% post-consumer recycled bottles for SC Johnson Scrubbing Bubbles® bottles in North America.

WEB LINK:

https://www.scjohnson.com/en-gb/home

RESEARCH RESULTS

Opinion Matters conducted this research for SC Johnson among 2,007 UK respondents between 27/08/2021 and 31/08/2021