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    Why bottled water is such a serious environmental problem, and how to reduce its use in your organisation

    Plastic water bottles offer the benefits of convenience and portability but that comes at a serious environmental price, one which definitely isn’t worth paying. A UN report published in 2016 stated that more than 300 million tonnes of plastic were produced in 2014 and predicted that this would rise to more than 2,000 million tonnes by 2050. Annual consumption of plastic bottles alone is predicted to top more than half a trillion by 2021. The demand for bottled water is seemingly unstoppable – over 20,000 bottles are purchased each second around the world. All this plastic has to be disposed of somehow and plastic water bottles contribute significantly to the problem.

    Different kinds of plastic biodegrade at different rates but the average biodegrading time is 450 years and some kinds of plastic bottles will be with us for more than 1,000 years. The extreme durability of plastic bottles then presents the problem of how to dispose of them. Vast quantities of plastic waste now end up in landfill or in the sea after being dumped and this causes significant environmental problems.

    Plastic bottles in the ocean cause many problems

    The spread of plastic debris has economic, social and environmental costs beyond the obvious damage. For example, jellyfish use floating plastic debris in the ocean to ‘hitch a ride’ to new habitats where they are not indigenous, thus changing the ecosystems in those places, taking away food from fish and other marine life. Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that plastics are being ingested by fish, seabirds and other marine organisms thus entering the food chain and making their way up to humans. A study by Plymouth University found plastic in a third of fish caught in the UK, including cod, mackerel, haddock and shellfish.

    Biodegradable plastic isn’t the answer

    Even so-called biodegradable plastics don’t really solve this problem as they only degrade at temperatures of 50c, so will never break down in the ocean where much plastic waste ends up. Plastic bottles can be recycled, but for this to happen they need to be collected up and at the moment that’s just not happening consistently enough – less than half of the bottles bought in 2016 ended up being recycled, with the rest ending up in the ocean or as landfill.

    Organisations are waking up to the need to reduce use of plastic water bottles

    The majority of plastic bottles are used for drinking water and it’s encouraging to see that organisations and governments are starting to take this problem increasingly seriously. For example, the sandwich chain Pret a Manger recently announced that it is trialling a new scheme that encourages customers to fill up water bottles for free using new filtered water stations in its stores. It will also sell two sizes of reusable glass bottles as an alternative to plastic bottles.

    Similarly, the Glastonbury Festival has a long partnership with WaterAid, offering water bottle refill points around the festival site and encouraging festival-goers to buy a WaterAid refillable bottle or refill their own bottles rather than to buy bottled water. Bristol is now a so-called ‘refillable city’ in which hundreds of cafes, restaurants and bars will allow people to fill up their water bottles for free.

    How can you reduce bottled water use in your organisation?

    So what can individual businesses do to address this problem? Installing prominent recycling containers throughout your premises makes it easier for staff to dispose of their water bottles in a more environmentally sustainable way, which is obviously a step in the right direction, however better still would be to discourage employees from drinking bottled water at all. Here are some ideas about how to do that.

    1. Install a sustainable water dispenser – systems such as Billi’s range of filtered still, sparkling and boiling water dispensers completely eliminate the need for bottled water as employees can have chilled or sparkling water instantly. In addition, Billi products use far less energy and cost less than standard water systems.
    2. Give each employee a refillable water bottle – there are many different styles and types of bottles available, including BPA-free reusable plastic bottles as well as glass and stainless steel. Many are available with customisation such as your company logo printed on them and a scheme like this can also be a point of positive PR for your company.
    3. Educate employees on the negative effects of water bottle waste – many people simply aren’t aware of the damage that water bottles can do to the environment and would be horrified if they did know.
    4. Incentivise employees for using reusable bottles – some employers hold inter-departmental competitions with prizes available to whichever department becomes ‘bottle-free’ first.
    5. Create a sustainability team – often schemes like this work best when the ideas come from within your workforce rather than being imposed from the top down. Think about setting up a sustainability team with members drawn from employees in all parts of the organisation, tasked with the specific responsibility of coming up with ideas to further reduce bottled water use.
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    Lord Rupert Redesdale

    Lord Redesdale was the Energy Spokesman for the Liberal Democrats for the House of Lords 2000-2008 during which time he introduced many members’ bills in the area of energy and conservation.

    Lord Redesdale is the CEO of the Energy Managers Association (EMA). The EMA aims to promote the development of energy management and the career structure of Energy Managers in the British economy.

    In 2016, Lord Redesdale co-founded The Water Retail Company (TWRC) with Professor Jacob Tompkins. TWRC is a licensed retailer with a focus on water efficiency and reduction strategy for its customers.

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    Professor Jacob Tomkins

    Jacob is the the co-founder and CTO of The Water Retail Company. Jacob trained as a civil engineer with degrees from UCL and Imperial. He worked as an academic, was water lead for the National Farmers’ Union and freshwater advisor at Water UK. He set up and ran Waterwise the water efficiency NGO for over 10 years. He has developed EU water legislation and recently chaired a UK Govt task force on resilience in the water sector.

    He is currently writing two books for Wiley on water efficiency and water and behaviour. He is a visiting Prof at Exeter University and has an OBE for services to water efficiency.

     

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    Harvey Djangogly

    Harvey brings over ten years of experience designing, leading, and evaluating initiatives that engage individuals, households, and employees in sustainable living, and that motivate pro-environmental change. Harvey works with and advises public, private and civic sector organisations in the UK and U.S. and abroad, focusing in particular on his passion –sustainable water use and efficiency.

    Harvey believes in the dual approach of “behaviour change” harnessed with innovative technology to achieve the goals of meeting water and carbon footprint reduction targets. The FlowlessTM by WINT solution, epitomises Harvey’s philosophy by allowing customers to monitor their water use in real time, empowering them to save water by introducing efficiencies and most importantly preventing and detecting escape of water and leaks thereby providing water security to the client’s facility/workplace

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    Marcel Napflin

    Marcel Näpflin is a long-standing member of the management team of URIMAT Schweiz AG, a leading manufacturer of environmentally friendly products in the sanitary industry. As Director for Marketing & Sales and Member of the Executive Board, Marcel has been responsible for the international marketing and sales strategy and the worldwide expansion of URIMAT. Under his leadership URIMAT developed numerous worldwide patented product innovations which save water, improve hygiene and reduce carbon footprint in restrooms.

    In his role as Business Development Manager Marcel was responsible for the development and launch of URIMAT-CONNECT, a cloud-based digital advertising system built into multi-media waterless urinals which dynamically deliver real time advertising messages via the internet. Marcel is a graduate business economist and has commercial diploma in banking. After he started his professional career in banking he worked in various management positions in the Sporting Goods Industry. 

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    Marcus Rose

    Marcus Rose is Managing Director at Ecoprod and URIMAT UK. He is a fully qualified mechanical engineer by training & background, with many years’ experience in the construction industry especially related to mechanical, sanitary and washroom applications.

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    Robert Summer

    For the last 8 years Robert Summer – Head of International Sales and Marketing – has developed structured distribution network worldwide for CONTI+ brand. The products offer great benefit for washrooms and shower rooms for public, semi-public and health sector. Today, sustainability, hygiene and smartness are key to CONTI+ solutions. Robert lives the brand and its USPs and loves to support and motivate his team on a daily basis.

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    David Houslander

    David Houslander is Business Development Manager at Liquidline, the UK’s leading coffee, water and juice hydration provider for offices, car showrooms, gyms and more. He believes that business today is not just about being a profitable silo in itself, but also about how we contribute to society – and this is one of his passions, to work with industry, find new solutions that support productivity and employee happiness and welfare within the workplace. Business is a tough environment today and David believes in working together to bring better support and meaningful solutions to Liquidline’s customers.

    Liquidline today believes fundamentally that coffee and hydration play a really important role today within all workplaces, also in schools, further education and other organisations. It does not embark on selling a metal box, but through meaningful dialogue it understands its customer ‘needs’ and then offer up appropriate solutions to meet those identified needs and this naturally involves specialist and innovative equipment. This approach is in tandem with today’s high profile requirement for services to compliment the green credentials such as its ECO roast bean that assists business today aspire at great effort to attain green credentials, be it control of plastics, recycling, water usage and carbon footprint count.

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    Martin Roche

    Martin Roche is Managing Director of Orel e3, a subsidiary of the global Orel Corporation.  In the UK, Orel is a multi award winning provider of energy saving solutions with more than £9 million and substantial carbon savings to date for our customers.

    Martin has developed two brand offerings for the UK: Lights4Sport and Go2Green.  Lights4Sport provides class leading LED indoor and external sports lighting solutions from grass roots up to Football league standards with modern controls.  Go2Green integrates heat pumps, solar PV, battery storage, insulation, infrared heating, LED lighting and Ecoprod water saving products and technologies to provide turnkey solutions to Save Cash & Carbon.            

     

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    Anthony Foxlee-Brown

    Anthony is Head of Marketing and Communications at Grundon Waste Management, the largest family-owned supplier of integrated waste management and environmental services in the UK.

    As part of Grundon’s leadership team, Anthony develops marketing and communication strategies to promote the Grundon brand, as well as engaging with customers and their employees to help them meet their sustainability goals, encourage recycling and drive waste management best practice.

    A particularly enjoyable part of his job is engaging with the wider community. These include community interest groups and wildlife trusts supported by Grundon through the Government’s Landfill Communities Fund grants.

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    Dane Vince

    Dane Vince is the General Manager at the world’s greenest football club, Forest Green Rovers, where he manages and coordinates a variety of key functions, including operations, commercial, grounds and stadium management.

    He has worked in a range of industries, including small specialist manufacturing, events sales and management, and most recently, the sporting industry, building up a diverse set of skills and experience along the way.

    The management of a football stadium is by its very nature complex and requires a wide range of skills; with the complexities of league and cup games, working alongside key departments like the 1st team, keeping within budget and meeting the needs of key stakeholders.

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    Jonathan Withey

    The Planet Mark is a sustainability certification which recognises continuous improvement in organisations, encourages practical action, and builds an empowered community of like-minded individuals.

    Jonathan joined The Planet Mark because he believes in the importance of effective measurement, engagement and communication in sustainability. He helps organisations build positive brands and make progress on their sustainability journeys as society transitions to a more sustainable way of living.

    Jonathan has an academic grounding in sustainable business practices having completed a Masters in Sustainability: Business, Environment & Corporate Responsibility. Since graduating, Jonathan has lead a project for the UN Environment Program in the Philippines as well as driving sustainability initiatives in a range of SMEs and larger organisations.

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