Published 00:37, August the 27th, 2009
Boxy is sexy, too
New water containers designed to help the earth
There was a time when we thought being responsible meant drinking water and recycling the bottle it came in. But today, evidence is pointing out how deadly mistaken we were.
Whether it’s the amount of gas it takes to ship the water — the documentary film “Tapped” estimates that in the U.S. alone, 18 million barrels of oil are used every year to transport bottled water — or the toxins present in the plastic bottles, there is a realization that bottled water puts a serious strain on the environment.
Entrepreneur Benjamin Gott sensed the tide was turning on bottled water back in March of 2008, so he came up with a brilliant concept for the $16 billion bottled-water industry — boxed water. “It was really more a design concept and the more time we spent thinking something up, and it really grew into, ‘Wow I really think we can do this,’” Gott explains.
Like bottled-water brands Dasani and Aquafina, Boxed Water is purified tap water. Because the containers are collapsible, shipping the cartons greatly reduces the carbon imprint generated from shipping plastic bottles. Once the company becomes profitable, Gott plans to donate 20 percent of the proceeds to non-profit organizations.