Waiakea, Inc. recently made huge waves when they were named one of Inc. 500’s fastest growing companies, but this year they are grabbing headlines all their own. Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water has developed the very first plastic water bottle that is fully degradable and made from 100 percent recyclable plastic. This is not just local news for Hawaii, this is groundbreaking news that will affect a global audience because Waiakea Water is about to take another significant step towards complete sustainability.
The Need for a Better Water Bottle
In recent years, there are some water bottling companies who have altered their manufacturing process by using more recyclable components or less plastics, but the bottom line is those bottles will still be degrading in the landfills a thousand years from now. Waiakea Inc., as part of their ongoing efforts to preserve the natural resources of the planet, have partnered with TimePlast to develop an additive for nano-degradation of plastic bottles. These new plastic water bottles developed by Waiakea Inc. are going to degrade 97 percent faster than all the other plastic bottles on grocery store shelves. These new water bottles will still be fully recyclable, allowing this industry to finally being in the position to be able to create sustainable waste management.
Beyond Expectations
When Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water entered the bottled water scene in 2012, they were able to create a buzz based on their unique water purification process. That could have been enough for this company to sustain, but they have decided that they have an ethical obligation to the planet and future generations, and changing the water bottle composition was a needed change. According to Ryan Emmons, the founder and CEO of Waiakea Inc., his company was no longer willing to produce plastic water bottles that would lie in landfills for over a thousand years to degrade. By partnering with TimePlast, his company was able to lessen their ecological footprint and accelerate the degradation process and turn a plastic water bottles lifespan of 1,000 years to a little more than 15 years to completely degrade.
Improving on a Product that Needed No Improvements
Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water has been growing their brand and increasing their bottom line based on the purification of the water and how incredible it tastes. Those are the two main components that drive bottled water sales, but the team at Waiakea Water felt an obligation to do more. The company already donates millions of liters of water to those in need every year, but now they feel that they have an obligation to protect the resources of the planet, conserve for future generations, and reduce their carbon footprint by eliminating plastic from piling up in landfills and the oceans around the world. Waiakea water bottles are already made from 100 percent post-recycled bottles, but developing a plastic bottle that will degrade 2.21 percent faster than any other plastic bottle just seems like a natural progression for this water company.
Engineering a New Water Bottle for the Future
Those who use plastic bottles for selling their products will tell you that the bottles will eventually degrade into carbon-based wax, what they don’t tell you is that process will only take 1,500 years to fully complete. The additive developed by TimePlast and used in the Waiakea Water bottles creates fewer chemical bonds, and less bonds requires less time to degrade. 15 years from now the bottles produced at Waiakea that do wind up in landfills around the world will be completely gone. This re-engineered nano-degraded plastic will eventually produce a shorter ecological footprint, something that will benefit future generations and help to change the way manufacturers approach the design of their own products. By reducing their carbon footprint by over 65 percent, Waiakea Water is taking the lead in the hopes the rest of the industry will follow suit.
Maintaining Unparalleled Beginnings
Looking back to 2012 when Waiakea Water first entered the bottled water arena, the company was always about providing a healthy source of water filtered through porous volcanic rock while keeping in line with ethics that focused on giving more than they receive. Although they were the first to offer Hawaiian volcanic water that came from a incredibly sustainable source that recharged at the rate of 1.4 billion gallons a day, the company right out of the gates donated hundreds of gallons of purified water to those in need for every one bottle sold. They started by producing a 100 percent RPET plastic bottle, but knew that was not enough, and today Waiakea Water has created the very first water bottle that will degrade in a little over a decade.
Changing the World One Bottle at a Time
Waiakea Water is certainly not afraid of hard work in achieving their goals, having completed over 1,200 experiments over a five-year span to finally develop a water bottle that will break down more rapidly. The hopes of CEO Emmons is that in addition to his bottled water company taking the lead as far as providing long-term ecological benefits to the planet, that his company efforts will then inspire other plastic bottling companies to adapt their own efforts and make use of this revolutionary technology. Looking at it from a financial and economic viewpoint, Emmons says eventually this will be the wave of the future, why not ride that wave today. His company already provides the healthiest water, the best tasting water, and now will also offer the most eco-friendly plastic water bottle too.
The technology on the table can alter one thousand pounds of plastic with only a single pound of the revolutionary additive. That translates to extremely low-cost applications that the plastic bottle beverage industry can absorb. In a nutshell, this new plastic bottle degradable technology will in time change the world. It is one thing for Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water to provide its customers purified water that is naturally enriched with minerals, has a natural pH of 8.8, and is high in electrolytes, it is another to feel obligated to promote the brand in a way that will allow future generations to enjoy the water without negatively impacted the planet.
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
