A South African company that became the first ever to build a humidity bottling plant in Cape Town has announced that it will be using bottles made from 100% plant material to replace plastic.
Air Water, which introduced machines that make water made from the air to SA 12 years ago, has embarked on a “Zero Plastic, Zero Harm” campaign.
“We were very chuffed to lead the way into this remarkable new way of producing water for South Africans to drink, but what really bugged me was the plastic that we served it in,” says Air Water founder and CEO, Ray de Vries. “We moved to glass bottles with steel caps on a returnable basis and that has gone a long way to eliminating the plastic scourge, but non-glass bottles are needed around hotel swimming pools, in stadiums, at schools etc. We needed to find something that could replace plastic.
“I was approached by two South African youngsters who said they had the answer – bottles made from sugar cane!” De Vries says. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when they not only presented the bottle to me, but sugar cane glasses, straws and even shopping bags. The bottles are multi-use, non toxic and 100% environmentally friendly. The 100% sustainable bottle can be used as many times as necessary and, once composted, decomposes completely within 120 days.
“I just love it when South Africans come up with innovations like this,” he adds. “This is a prime example of us achieving something because we are South African and not despite that we are South African.”
The “Eco Water Bottle” will be on the shelves in SA in the first quarter of 2019.
“We are talking to investors at the moment as we want to export the Eco Water Bottle globally,” De Vries says. “There has been a huge amount of interest both in South Africa and beyond.”
