Bottled water brand One Water has begun trialling an alternative bottle sleeve that raises awareness of the poor water conditions experienced by people in developing countries.
Rolling out today to coincide with World Water Day, the sleeve uses a brown-coloured gradient to make the spring water inside the bottle look dirty. One Water, which invests its profits in clean water projects around the world, estimates that more than 650 million people live without access to clean water.
Duncan Goose, the founder of the UK-based business, said: “By 2020, the British population will consume close to 4.8 billion litres of bottled water per year, which adds up to more than 70 litres of bottled water for everyone in the UK. I wanted to turn this into a force for good – a source of funds that benefits the billions of people worldwide who don’t have a reliable clean water source.”
Trial versions of the new bottle sleeves are being market tested, and Goose hopes that the project will help secure One Water a major supermarket listing.
The brand is on target to have raised £15 million for water sanitation projects by this summer, and hopes to reach £20 million by 2020. Launched in 2005, it is stocked in Starbucks locations across the UK and has other listings in travel retail, as well as wholesale and grocery retail.
A poll of people in London for One Water found that a majority buy bottled water during any given week.
Goose continued: “It seems counter-intuitive to be trying to sell a bottle of water that looks dirty, but we think it’s a useful moment of reflection in our busy days and an opportunity to support a business that pours its profits into clean water for everyone rather than into the bank accounts of corporations.
“If only a small proportion of the profits from the sale of every bottle of water went to clean water projects, we could have a huge impact on water issues worldwide. By drinking One Water you’re effectively saying to someone without access to clean water, ‘have a clean drink on me.'”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024