Aquabest Celebrates World Environment Day

Aquabest and its mother company GQWEST Inc would like to join the world in celebrating and working towards the ideals of World Environment Day (WED).

Environment Day was started in 1972 and aims to stimulate environmental awareness and spur public action. Since then it has been celebrated every year on June 5. This year the theme for the celebrations is Think.Eat.Save. Think.Eat.Save is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce your food print. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted.

For the company an often overlooked aspect of food security is that of access to clean water. Carson Tan, CEO of GQWEST Inc says being the leading player in the water franchising industry, the company is aware of the significance but also of the scale of the problem. “When we started in the 1990’s the lack of clean and potable drinking water was a major problem and a significant contributor to the growth of the water refilling industry. Since then, the situation has drastically improved but 58 percent of our water remains contaminated. This ultimately means that millions of Filipinos still have to suffer from the diseases and problems posed by a lack of clean water.”

To address this problem, Aquabest has worked on some measures to alleviate the problem and improve access to clean water. First, is GQWEST’s thrust of introducing various brands catering to specific markets that offer clean and affordable water. The company is also involved in industry groups like the WQAP that aims to improve access and the quality of our drinking water. Finally, it has partnerships with groups like Haribon to help preserve and expand our watersheds, which provide the bulk of our drinking water.

“With millions of people suffering every day because of inadequate access to clean water not just in the country but also around the world we can no longer afford to stay silent and do nothing. We need to be proactive and be part of the solution “says Tan. He adds that Aquabest is committed to championing the ideals of WED, and is seeking more ways to bring fresh and clean water to everyone.