Eco-friendly and zero-waste management, a campaign that helps not only the environment but also teaches patrons to be mindful of the waste and learn to conserve. And for this campaign, NutriAsia, the leading condiments manufacturer and distributor in the Philippines, was named as a Bronze Stevie® Award winner at the 17th Annual International Business Awards®.

The International Business Awards are the world’s premier business awards program. All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small - are eligible to submit nominations. The 2020 IBAs received entries from organizations in 63 nations and territories.

More than 3,800 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Company of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Startup of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Executive of the Year, among others. This year’s competition also featured a number of free-to-enter categories to recognize organizations’ and individuals’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NutriAsia entered its 2019 “Bring Your Own Bote” (BYOB) Campaign under the competition’s Corporate Responsibility Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year category. Launched on July 30, 2019, it pushed the company’s zero-waste advocacy by launching BYOB Stores in Metro Manila.

The first store was established at The Mind Museum in Bonifacio Global City. Explicitly designed to be an eco-friendly space, the BYOB Store was half-built with walls made of glass, so the public can see the refill process, while the other half is made out of eco-bricks which include shredded used plastic as a component.

Serving as both a refilling and selling station, the BYOB Store encouraged consumers to bring their own reusable containers to stock up on their condiments such as vinegar, soy sauce, catsup, and cooking oil. All products were sold at prices lower than packaged counterparts in the market. BYOB also served as a drop-off point for recyclable plastics, which will be repurposed into school furnishings for its beneficiary school.

The first BYOB Store was originally slated to end its operations in September 2019, but due to popular demand, it became a permanent set-up on the location and has since been officially made into the first

NutriAsia BYOB branch. Following social distancing protocols for COVID-19 prevention, the NutriAsia BYOB Store in BGC has added new innovations to better serve customers during this time. An online order form via https://cdn.jotfor.ms/nai.byob/orderform as well as cashless payments via GCash and BPI are currently in place to reduce physical contact during transactions.

In February 2020, a second branch in Quezon City was set up in partnership with the local government unit (LGU).

So far, as of March 2020, the BYOB campaign has already refilled more than 2,000 bottles of condiments and collected 1,000 kilos of plastics for repurposing. NutriAsia says it is receiving more inquiries from other local government units and private entities that want to put up their own BYOB stores.

As the ongoing COVID-19 crisis will prevent winners from receiving their awards on stage during a traditional gala IBA banquet, winners will be celebrated instead during a virtual ceremony on Tuesday, 1 December.