SOURCE: O-I Glass, Inc.
DESCRIPTION:
Boomerang Water is an on-site, small batch bottling water company providing water for commercial venues like hotels and college campuses, as well as serving families for their homes. The North Carolina based company is on a mission to rid the world of single-use plastic bottles and reshape bottled water through innovation.
While serving in the United States military in the early 2000s, co-founder Jason Dibble was shocked by the amount of plastic water bottles used day after day. When he returned stateside, he continued to see that single-use plastic bottles were permeating everyday life in communities that had better access to clean water. He knew there was a better way to deliver fresh water on-demand.
Boomerang’s Low-Waste, Circular System
Boomerang’s approach is based on creating a low- to no-waste, circular economy. Each Boomerang system sanitizes, fills and caps glass bottles of ultra-purified water at the source for distribution, and accepts their empty bottles back into the system, eliminating the need for shipping or waste.
“Our onsite small batch bottling system enables any location to become completely closed loop because we bottle at the point of use,” Dibble says. That means Boomerang enables any controlled environment — municipality, corporate campus, hotel, college, industrial facility – to create far less waste by replacing plastic bottles with bottles made of reusable materials.
“I hate to tell you this, but when you put a plastic bottle in your recycling bin, there’s a good chance it’ll never get recycled. There’s just too much plastic waste to control,” Dibble explains. “But when you return an empty Boomerang water bottle, you can trust that it will never wind up in the ocean because that’s how our closed-loop system works.”
Glass is the perfect packaging material for a strong, low-waste circular economy. It’s made of four natural ingredients: sand, limestone, soda ash, and recycled glass. It can be recycled again and again without losing quality. Refillable glass bottles like Boomerang’s take the world’s most sustainable package a step further.
Boomerang’s Durable Glass Water Bottle for the Future
Driven by the common desire to provide sustainable solutions, Boomerang Water and O-I partnered to create Boomerang’s refillable, incredibly durable glass water bottle.
“We tasked O-I with building a better water bottle — as easy and convenient as on-the-go plastic, but made of higher quality materials to ensure ultra-purity and sustainability for our eco-conscious consumer,” Dibble says.
He also cites health and wellness benefits as another reason Boomerang loves glass bottles.
“The glass prevents microplastics and toxins from leaching into the water so it’s healthier than our competition, and they’re infinitely reusable in our closed-loop system, so every bottle returned reduces carbon emissions by 90% and keeps plastic bottles out of the ocean,” Dibble says.
Boomerang Water is rapidly expanding throughout the United States with a focus on corporate campuses, hospitality, industry, and college campuses. Boomerang Water is also working with the town of Davidson, North Carolina, on the Davidson Sustainability Challenge, a plan to eliminate single-use plastic bottles from the community, beginning with 1 million plastic water bottles in 2021. As part of that initiative, Boomerang offers at home and small business delivery subscriptions exclusively for Davidson residents.
“As tough as these last few months and years have been for our country and the world, I’m still confident that our future looks bright,” Dibble said. “ I see consumers and businesses wanting to be better, thinking more selflessly and proactively. That’s what I’m most excited about, and that’s why I’m proud to be working with O-I as a catalyst for change at Boomerang Water.”
KEYWORDS: NYSE: OI, O-I Glass, Boomerang Water
