Boxed Water Hits Marketplace Nationwide

AQUA2GO is a new boxed water now available in many locations.  The company claims its water is much more sustainable than bottled waters and touts its packaging as a key component in its sustainability.  AQUA2GO  is purified through a reverse osmosis process. 

AQUA2GO is packaged in Tetra Brik Aseptic packaging made by Tetra Pak Inc.  The company claims their product is 96% water and 4% packaging compared to a typical 80% product and 20% packaging.  The Tetra Brik packaging is made from 74% wood (paper), 20% plastic and 6% aluminum.

The company says because of its packaging its water has a five-year shelf life and is not susceptible to environmental factors like temperature and light like bottled water.  Their water requires no special storage, is compact and lightweight and the package can easily be flattened after use.

AQUA2GO is available nationally thanks to a deal with the large organic distributor Tree of Life.  AQUA2GO was  initially launched in Whole Foods' Louisiana stores, Winn Dixie (100 stores along the Gulf Coast), Rouse's, Langensteins and several other local New Orleans stores.

The new national distribution agreement with Tree of Life has expanded AQUA2GO's presence across the country now making it available to other national merchants who do business with Tree of Life (such as WalMart, Krogers, Hy-Vee, Wild Oats, Roundy's and more), as well as the remaining Whole Foods regions.

It will be interesting to track the reaction to this product in the marketplace.  AQUA2GO does not appear to be available in my region yet. 

Despite the company's claim its packaging is a better option in terms of the environment it should be noted that point is at the very least debatable. 

 

Comments

[lloyd alter]

ARRGH!!! tetrapaks are even harder to recycle than PET with an even lower rate or recovery! This is a huge step backward!

[Disenvironment]

Great, instead of using petrol move partially full trucks full of bottled water to the supermarkets, we'll move partially full trucks full of boxed water to the supermarkets. This isn't progress, transporting water is inevitably a waste of energy and resources.

DRINK TAP WATER! IT'S CHEAP, CLEAN* AND GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

*If it isn't clean, you must force your local water authority to fix it. Clean drinking water is a human rights issue.

[Beth]

It's my understanding that packages that combine different materials are very hard if not impossible to recycle. The easiest items to recycle are those made of one material only, like the Preserve toothbrushes that we talked about. Also, I saw a web site the other day for a type of notebook that is made of one type of recyclable plastic. I'll try to find it again. But anything that's made of more than one thing is basically landfill fodder.

[Greg]

Lloyd,

I'm pretty happy that you live in an area of the country where your water is clean, or at least your government is responsive. But as anyone who is awake and following the news in America is aware, many many do not have either clean water or a responsive system.

While I totally agree that tap water is the answer for many people, I think a bigger problem inside and outside the green movement is this extremism. Can we be Americans without viewing everything in black and white terms and demonizing the "other side" .... the fact remains that at times bottled water is both necessary and good for communities with limited options.

Greg

[jgrayson]

Giving 20 percent of the company's profits to world water relief and reforestation foundations seems to fall into the same category of philanthropy as Philip Morris' smoking cessation program, no?

http://theredwhiteandgreen.com/2009/03/27/boxed-water-bs/