Typhoon Haiyan wiped out the buildings and services of an entire city.

The Department of Energy estimated it would take over 3 months to restore electricity.

And in fact in some areas it has taken a lot longer.

So there was - and remains - an urgent need to provide sustainable lighting.

And there was also a need to get economic activity going again.

And give people the power to get back on their feet.

Pepsi is a leading soft drink company in the country.

And the company prides itself on Performance with Purpose.

Part of this involves championing relevant environmental initiatives. Such as clean water for the community. Low emissions energy solutions for the plant. And, crucially, encouraging the responsible use of PET plastic bottles.

Pepsi has taken the lead in supporting this initiative because it wants the entire soft-drink industry to use plastic responsibly. For the benefit of the community rather than as a burden on it.

Over the past 3 years it has provided lighting using recycled bottles to approximately 150,000 homes.

Innovating on the existing solar bottle light Pepsi invested in a new kind of light.

The first solar bottle light to work in the dark.

By adding locally available, low tech plastic tubing, an LED light strip, standard rechargeable batteries and off-cut solar panels.

We also taught people how to weld the simple copper circuit that runs the lamp.

So we not only put these world-first solar night lights in the hands of the people that needed them most.

We also taught them to create, install and maintain new lights for themselves.

In the immediate aftermath of the typhoon we were able to mobilise quicker than any other solar solution available.

Within 3 months we had installed over 4,500 lights ourselves.

And given hundreds of people the tools and the know-how to create many more for themselves.

The same technology has now spread to street-lighting and community centres.

It would be ridiculous to say the problem is solved.

But according to the leader of the city, the lights have given hope - where before there was none.