Zero plastic in new eco water bottle

CAPE TOWN will soon be the home to bottles made from 100% plant material to replace plastic ones.

The bottles will be made by the same company that pioneered the first ever humidity bottling plant in Cape Town, Air Water, and will be on the market in the first quarter of next year.

The company introduced machines that make water made from air to South Africa 12 years ago, and has embarked on a “zero plastic, zero harm” campaign.

Founder and chief executive Ray de Vries said they were excited to play a part in making the world more green and in fighting the use of plastic.

“We were very chuffed to lead the way into this remarkable new way of producing water for South Africans to drink, but what really bugged me was the plastic that we served it in. We moved to glass bottles on a returnable basis, but non-glass bottles are needed around hotel swimming pools, in stadiums, at schools, etc.”

He said he was approached by two Cape Town youngsters, Kyle Creeze and Nicholas de Beer, who said they had the answer for alternative bottling – bottles made from sugar cane.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when they not only presented the bottle to me, but sugar cane glasses, straws and even shopping bags. The bottles are multi-use, non toxic and 100% environmentally friendly. The 100% sustainable bottle can be used as many times as necessary and, once composted, decomposes completely within 120 days.”

De Vries said the bottles would be called the “eco water bottle”.

They were not sure what the pricing would be, but it would be on par with plastic bottles in the market.

“I just love it when South Africans come up with innovations like this. This is a prime example of us achieving something because we are South African, and not despite being South African” he said.

“We are talking to investors as we want to export the eco water bottle globally. There has been a huge amount of interest, both in South Africa and beyond.”