29 Apr 2019 Water giants look to home dispensing systems in bid to clean up their act
Two of the world’s biggest water companies are thinking outside the bottle as environmental campaigners and consumers execrate the enormous amount of plastic waste the industry produces.
Danone’s Evian is trialing an in-home water appliance featuring a balloon-like container that cuts down on plastic use, while Nestlé is working on an out-of-home dispensing system based on refillable bottles.
The moves are aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of a business that packages water from natural springs and transports it over long distances, with many bottles ending up polluting the oceans after they’re discarded.
Previous efforts to reduce the amount of plastic used, such as shrinking the size of closures, have made only minor differences. Now, as consumer groups and politicians step up pressure, the biggest players in the business are looking at more radical measures.
Danone’s Evian Renew system, just announced and pictured above, is made up of a base dispenser and an exchangeable 5l bubble that contains the water.
The recyclable bubble contains 66% less plastic than a 1.5l Evian bottle, and features a skin so thin that it contracts to a new shape after each use and collapses once empty.
Nestlé Waters’ system, to be introduced early in 2020, will allow consumers to access filtered water that can be customised with flavours or carbonation, a spokesperson said, without providing details.
Governments globally have been stepping up action to reduce plastic, from banning drinking straws to imposing fees on supermarket bags. The European Parliament approved in March a prohibition on single-use plastic consumer items from 2021.
Environmental group Greenpeace called out Nestlé at its annual general meeting last week for its reliance on single-use plastic, urging the world’s largest food company to invest in alternative delivery systems based on refilling containers. Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider has said reuse alone wouldn’t solve the problem of waste.
Yet another dispenser
While water coolers are office fixtures, Danone may have to overcome consumer reluctance to fill limited kitchen space with yet another appliance. Fizzy-drinks dispensers from SodaStream International, which PepsiCo bought for $3.2bn in 2018, have managed to break through.
Evian Renew eliminates the need to haul heavy water bottles home by providing delivery. The base is connected to a digital app that notifies consumers when a refill is due and lets them place an order by touching a button.
The system aims to build customer loyalty by linking the product to the dispenser, as Nestlé has done with its Nespresso coffee business.
Evian will start a four-month pilot phase with 200 consumers in Paris and London in September, aiming to roll out the system more broadly later. A Danone spokesperson said pricing is still under review.
Patricia Oliva, Evian’s head of marketing, said Evian is on track toward its goals of becoming carbon neutral by 2020 and using only recycled plastic by 2025. Evian produced 1.9-billion bottles in 2018.
“Based on the conversations we’ve had with consumers, it’s important to those who want to have natural mineral water at home to have a solution that’s both more sustainable and more convenient,” Oliva said.
Source: Bloomberg, Evian