(MENAFN- Mid-East.Info) Sharm El-Sheikh: Bluewater, a Swedish innovator of award-winning hydration solutions and beverages, has lashed out at the lack of decisive action by world lawmakers to halt the production of single-use plastic bottles despite growing evidence of the threat posed to planetary and human health.
“Some 1.3 billion plastic bottles are purchased around the world every day and unfortunately many ultimately end up in landfill or the oceans after being discarded, subsequently then leaching a variety of potentially health threatening chemicals and microplastics into the environment,” said Philip Russell (photo below), Managing Director of Bluewater's UK-based events company, in a landmark speech on Thursday in the Climate Action Innovation Zone. Philip shared the podium, with Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean.
The plasticoceans.org website estimates that 10 million tons of plastic are dumped in the planet's oceans annually, while Greenpeace says an estimated 5 billion tons of plastic waste has already accumulated in landfills or the environment. Other studies reveal that microplastic particles are being found in the human body, including lungs, blood, and digestive system, because they are now in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.
In one recent study, researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, found several hundred different chemical substances in tap water stored in reusable plastic bottles. Several of these substances are potentially harmful to human health, the researchers said and called for better regulation and manufacturing standards for manufacturers.
Bluewater was launched in 2013 by Swedish environmental entrepreneur Bengt Rittri with the express mission to harness human ingenuity to halt the destructive use of plastic bottles and their transportation around the world by polluting ship, air and road transport.
Philip said lawmakers around the world needed to acknowledge the reality that a large proportion of discarded plastic never makes it to recycling facilities due to poor functioning plastic waste management systems. In his address to the Climate Action conference, he stressed that the best water is water sourced and purified in local communities at point of consumption. And consumed in reusable stainless steel or glass bottles that do not cause lasting damage to the planet.
“In the ten years since we were founded, we've leveraged our expertise as the world's leading innovator of clean water dispensing solutions for home, commercial and public use such as in the Climate Action Innovation Zone to hydrate thousands of visitors without harming the natural environment,” Philip Russell said.
Bluewater is wholly owned by Blue AB, a Stockholm-based fund established in 2016 by Swedish environmental entrepreneur Bengt Rittri as a socially responsible investor. Today the fund supports start-ups and companies at any stage of business development focused on making the world a better place. The fund has invested in building a portfolio of companies driving clean air, purified water, energy, health, and other game-changing initiatives, including Baseload Capital, which develops and invests in heat power operators worldwide to help accelerate the development of geothermal energy as a green source of electricity.
“Like all our sister Blue AB portfolio companies, our focus at Bluewater is to help catalyse action on the sustainable development goals, while building healthier and more resilient communities around the world. At Bluewater, we are working to be the world's most planet-friendly beverage company by innovating disruptive water purification technologies and dispensing approaches(see photo above), health-enhancing drinks, and high-quality refillable vessels that come together to break the stranglehold of single-use plastic bottles and their unnecessary, polluting transportation.”
About Bluewater
Bluewater has set its sights on being the world's most planet-friendly beverage company by innovating disruptive water purification technologies for home, work and play, health-enhancing hydration solutions generated and distributed at point of use, and reusable stainless steel and glass bottles that break the stranglehold of single-use plastic bottles and their unnecessary, polluting transportation. Bluewater products are available to consumers, hotel and catering operations, and event, festival and venue organisations with a thirst for life in Europe, the USA, the UK, China, South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Bluewater endorses the UN Environment Clean Seas initiative to turn the tide on plastics, and has been honored with two Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards, a K&B Kitchen Innovation of the Year Award, and recognised for its sustainability efforts by a number of other publications. >