The story of Brita began in 1966, when the company’s founder, Heinz Hankammer, had a vision of improving the efficiency of the mains water supply. But the brand’s real success started in the early 1970s when they released a water filter jug meant to get utilized in the home. Essentially, the magical carafe eliminates all the nasty stuff from your tap water and turns it into something clean and drinkable. If you had bad tap water in the 80s or 90s—and, yes, even today—you most likely still have one in your fridge. Today, they’re a market-leading water filtration systems provider that won a silver Green Apple award for Environmental Best Practice in 2019 for its sustainability practices.
To extend that vision, the company launched a premium purified water in early 2021, a replacement for single-use plastic challenging the more than $283 billion bottled water market. Today, the world produces somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 million tons of plastic yearly, and at least 14 million will get dumped into our oceans in that same span of time. Add to that the 1.2 million plastic bottles produced every minute, where 91% of it does not get recycled, and you start to get the picture.
So, when the company added a bottled water product to its catalog, it wanted sustainable packaging that did not steer it away from its environmentally-friendly stance. Putting a novel packaging idea into practice at a large scale required time, effort, and expertise, and they turned to B Water & Beverages. Known for packaging water in aluminum bottles and cans, they helped create 100% plastic-free bottle packaging for Brita.
In addition to being infinitely recyclable, the aluminum bottles used to package Brita Water are incredibly sturdy and can get refilled numerous times. But it’s not just the bottles—every part of Brita Waters’ packaging is recyclable. Even the four-and six-packs of Brita Water contain no plastic in their packaging, bundling them using an innovative paper-based carrier system called Fishbone.
Brita Waters is not just a product. It is a revolution in the bottled water industry.
Impact-Extruded Trivium Packaging
When it comes to refilling, impact-extruded bottles are the best option. These bottles can have a thickness and durability that falls between a standard soda can and the extreme hardness of stainless steel.
In the past, largeraluminum bottles required a plastic insert on the neck to accommodate the aluminum cap. Trivium explored the ability to weave metal threads right onto the bottle, making plastic entirely redundant from the bottle-making process. Brita bottles made using the Trivium processes are highly durable and can withstand repeated use. Moreover, the impact-extrusion procedure allows applying liners precisely, ensuring that the bottle’s interior is fully protected.
So, unlike single-use plastic bottles, Brita water bottles are safe to be reused, and the refillability of the bottles allows consumers to save money.
Aluminum Vs. Plastic
Unlike plastic, which can only get recycled a limited number of times, aluminum is infinitely recyclable and won’t lose any of its practical features or require additional virgin material. Furthermore, the lightweight material and sturdiness of the substrate make it a preferable option, particularly since they wanted to manufacture a reusable aluminum container.
Terrestrial microplastic pollution is 4 to 23 times higher than marine microplastic pollution, depending on the environment. Moreover, it’s anticipated that the quantity of plastic found in the ocean will double over the next 15 years, and by the year 2050, there may be more plastic than fish in the water (by weight). Brita wants to make its buyers more conscious of their impact on the world and more self-reliant with their water supply by reusing the bottles as often as possible, protecting marine life (and human) in the process.
Achieving Absolute Sustainability With Atlantic’s Fishbone Paperboard Carrier
When B Water was seeking an option for a six-pack of cans several years before the Brita project,Atlantic’s Fishbone paperboard can carrier was one of the possibilities presented to them.
And why was it a preferred option?
Well, the paperboard is resistant to tearing, making it ideal for the task. The business decided on a board with a thickness of 29 points from Sweden’s BillerudKorsnas, offering tear resistance superior to that of a domestic board compared caliper for the caliper. In most cases, you can even reduce the wall thickness while maintaining the strength, resulting in significant material savings.
Expanding In-Store Presence
Since its launch in 2021, you can now find Brita bottled water at many brick-and-mortar and online stores. Moreover, the online reputation of Brita Premium Purified Water seems to be growing in a positive direction with consumers as they continue to seek out plastic-free options.
In partnering with a co-packer and expanding into the sustainable bottled water category, the brand continues to make a lasting contribution to the environment while maintaining its reputation as a single-use plastic bottle killer. Armed with itsinnovative packaging, Brita can continue its sustainability mission while offering its consumers a product they love.
Images courtesy of Brita.
