There was a recent buzz in the bottled water industry that reached further than anyone could have expected. Waiakea Inc. made an announcement that they were going to be producing the world’s very first fully degradable water bottle, another huge step in the company’s drive towards total sustainability. This might seem like earth-shattering news for some, but for the makers of Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water, this really is just business as usual. Over the course of the next year, Waiakea Water will release the very first water bottle that’s fully-degradable and will change an entire industry.
Building a Better Water Bottle
Most people realize that the plastic bottles being manufactured today are draining the natural resources of the planet while cramming landfills with a product that could be here for tens of future generations to have to deal with. Waiakea Water is already using plastic in their bottles that is made from 100 percent recycled products, but that is not enough for this company. Creating the world’s first fully degradable bottle made from 100 percent recycled plastic is a huge step in the right direction as far as conservation and leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Waiakea Water is huge on environmental initiatives, so developing a water bottle that would deteriorate faster than other plastic bottles in production is saying something.
When All Fails You Make a Way
Listen to Ryan Emmons, CEO and founder of Waiakea, talk about how they were able to develop the new additive that will shrink the lifespan of a plastic bottle. This was no easy task, says Emmons, the process actually took over five years and well over 1,000 experiments, but the determination of the company to make the world a better place than when they found it is certainly becoming a reality. By teaming with TimePlast, Waiakea Inc. has made a huge breakthrough in the chemical composition of plastic and the degradation process. By using an additive that will create weaker chemical bonds, the plastic doesn’t need 1,500 years to start breaking down, it will fully degrade in just over 15 years. By accelerating the pace in which the plastic water bottle breaks down, Emmons feels like his company is poised to change the way the world looks at plastic..
Leaving the World a Better Place
Emmons talks about how fortunate his company was to discover a natural sources of purified water that comes through a Hawaiian aquifer at a rate of a billion gallons a day. Having an massive source of clean water gives Waiakea Inc. a huge leg up on the competition, and despite numerous awards for water quality and for being one of the fastest growing companies in America, more must be done. If the company continues to only use recycled plastic for their bottles, those bottles would still would be stuffed in landfills 1,500 years from now. Forcing tens of generations to have to deal with the trash of today is something that does not sit well with the team at Waiakea Water. The planet is getting smaller as the population explodes each year, and in 1,500 years that mess will be a huge concern. Waiakea Water has trimmed the time the plastic will degrade to 15 years, something that shows they are focused 100 percent on environmental initiatives.
Giving Back in a Big Way
It is one thing to donate 3 percent of your revenues each year to help those in need, it is another to get your hands dirty and help these communities without clean water to thrive on their own. Working hand in hand with PumpAid, Waiakea Water has been able to address a growing problem globally with lack of clean water. Over 650 million people last year did not have access to clean water, and more than 2 billion people each year have no functioning sanitation facilities because of lack of water. Waiakea Water sends a team of employees to communities around the globe, and with the help of PumpAid is making a difference. These teams help install water pumps, maintain them, and show the locals how to operate them long into the future. By educating the locals and showing them how to access clean water, Waiakea Water is continuing their efforts to make the world a better place than when they found it.
The Ability to Give More
One of the reasons that Waiakea Water can continue to give more than they receive is simple, they have access to a water purification system that is natural, a blessing the company does not ignore. The water from the Hawaiian mountains runs through volcanic tubes that strips away impurities, leaving behind some of the best tasting water on the planet. That purification process allows the company to utilize their profits to helping those in need. Every 20 seconds, a child is dying because they have some sort of water-born illness. Each time a bottle of Waiakea Water is sold, these countries where babies are dying get a free weeks supply of clean water. Waiakea Water has their hands in several efforts to help those in need, locally with Hawaiians in trouble all the way to Africa where water is disappearing at an alarming rate.
Hoping the Industry as Whole Follows Along
The CEO of Waiakea Water hopes that his continued efforts to make the world a better place rubs off on others in the plastic bottle industry who can help without draining their own pockets. Emmons says the cost of the additive needed to accelerate the degrading of a plastic water bottle is something any company can absorb. A single pound of the new additive will break down a thousand pounds of plastic, allowing the industry as a whole to join together and to really make a global difference today, tomorrow, and for many generations into the future. The time to make changes in the future are today, and Waiakea Water is showing the world that it only takes one to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
Waiakea Water has a single mission, making sure as many people as possible have access to clean drinking water. By attacking this goal on multiple fronts, Emmons believes change is certainly within reach now.
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Read our previous article on Waiakea water’s environmental initiatives here!
