Best friends and soccer stars Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Flamini have teamed up to save the planet. And they’re doing so by starting grooming brand One Unity. The brand launched on Tuesday, with the stars taking to social media to tell the world.

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Flamini who used to play for English club Arsenal FC alongside his newfound business partner, Ozil, has played his hand in global sustainability projects for years. He’s been dubbed one of the world’s richest footballers, with his company GF Biochemicals said to be the future in providing a sustainable alternative to oil-based products.

The packaging on the outside

And now he has taken a shot against plastic. With the two midfielders out to defend the planet’s obscene plastic usage. One Unity is said to produce “wellbeing products that combine feeling good and doing good, naturally,” according to their site. 

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The two state on the site that they’re “not just focused on what’s inside [their] products… [but they] care deeply about the packaging on the outside.

“We’re focused on reducing our impact on the planet, without risking the quality of the product inside.” With ingredients known to be bad for the environment, and the world’s oceans, left out of the packaging. “Harsh ingredients like parabens, SLS, SLES, mineral oils, plastic microbeads and artificial fragrances should be a thing of the past – so we never use them in our products, ever.”

And the two are revolutionising the game, with their grooming collection (which consists of eye cream, deodorant, shaving cream/ beard oil, face wash and shower gel) made from sugarcane, “a renewable and recyclable bioplastic, grown on sustainably farmed land”.

Sugarcane plants help to reduce CO2 emissions, whereas normal plastic made using fossil fuels, increases CO2 emissions, according to the site.

Opportunities for employment

Sugarcane has been put forward in South Africa, too. And is said to be the future of “green” plastics, with Durban home to a vast production of sugarcane. Economics Master’s student at the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal, Warwick Thompson,  has a put case forward for diverting biomass from South Africa’s sugarcane crop for the manufacturing of plastics, according to SADC SugarDigest.

According to Thompson, “If South Africa could produce these bio-based polymers, we would move closer towards a bio- economy, being less dependent on fossil resources. Greenhouse emissions would be reduced and further opportunities for employment in the green economy would become available.”

For Ozil and Flamini, their launch has been a powerful one. With the stars launching an emotive ad campaign, alongside their pledge to donate 1% of their revenue towards causes saving the planet and supporting those in need. The video opens with Flamini stating, “It’s half time across the planet. What’s happened already is lost. But what happens next is ours to choose. We choose how to step out and play the next half.”

Read more: These soccer science tactics will up your game

Here at MH, we’re all about the fight agains plastic, and like Ozil and Flamini, we’re going to play a spectacular second half. This time winning over our planet. Join National Geographic’s incredible initiative to keep single-use plastics out of the environment, sign up here.

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