Harpic strengthens commitment to uplifting public health and sanitation for World Toilet Day

Harpic, Sri Lanka’s No. 1 toilet cleaner, initiated a special CSR project to celebrate ‘World Toilet Day 2018’ by deploying its teams to clean and transform public rest rooms at Fort and Maradana Railway Stations. 

The United Nations declared 19 November as ‘World Toilet Day’ and being a socially conscious brand, Harpic conducted its CSR initiative in line with UN’s objective of raising awareness about the social issue relating to inadequate access to hygienic toilet facilities. 

As part of the CSR project, the Harpic cleaning crews were engaged in cleaning work during the days leading up to 19 November. The initiative also saw Harpic crew members educating the public on their individual responsibility to keep public rest rooms clean.  

“Not having adequate access to hygienic toilet facilities is a huge issue our communities are silently dealing with. The United Nations declared 19 November as World Toilet Day due to the importance of raising awareness on this issue. As a socially responsible brand, we wanted to actively take this problem to the people and heightened awareness on this matter. Fort and Maradana Railway Stations are used by thousands of commuters every day. We are happy to notice the appreciative gestures of all who acknowledged the work we have done,” said of Reckitt Benckiser (Sri Lanka) Ltd. Head of Marketing and Trade Marketing Jude Martino.

Tackling sanitation issues has been a major concern for the United Nations as over 4.5 billion of the world’s population lives without access to safe toilets. The issue has a significant impact on achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In Sri Lanka, it is estimated that 8% of the population still do not have adequate access to hygienic toilets and the condition of public toilet facilities are generally not at an acceptable level. 

Harpic, a member of the renowned Reckitt Benckiser house, has always aligned its CSR efforts to target these broad challenges relating to the community. 

In March 2017, Harpic launched the ‘Harpic Suwa Jana Meheyuma; Mission Wellbeing’ in collaboration with the Ministry of City Planning and Water Supply to elevate the status of hygiene across households in Sri Lanka. Under the project Harpic has so far built 200 toilets in households and schools around the country, providing people with important sanitation facilities for their wellbeing. Taking its commitment to the next level, Harpic is also channeling Rs. 5 from every 500 ml bottle of Harpic sold towards this project. 

Since the inception of the brand, Harpic has conducted multiple ground activations to promote cleanliness and hygiene among the communities and has reached out to hundreds of thousands of households across the country. As part of these activations, Harpic has been present at all important social and cultural public events, providing relief to many. Harpic’s mobile toilet program with state-of-the-art toilet facilities has been covering over 10 major religious and social events annually over the past years. 

Harpic is a leading brand of Reckitt Benckiser (Sri Lanka) Ltd. Reckitt Benckiser is a renowned global business that operates in markets across six continents. Inspired by a vision to create a world where people are healthier and live better, the company produces a popular range of health and hygiene products that include Dettol, Strepsils, Veet, Airwick, Durex and Lysol. Harpic’s CSR efforts reiterate the commitment by Reckitt Benckiser to conduct a socially, environmentally and financially responsible business entity.