Save Thailand’s water – drink air
Three SA-born entrepreneurs working on turning back tide of plastic
STAYING at a hotel on the Thai island of Koh Samui in 2015, Meghan Kerrigan noticed the four bottles of water she was given every day were clogging her bin with plastic.
Outside her door, Chaweng beach was smothered in rubbish. It was then that she and the Kohler brothers, Ryan and Matthew, had a “light-bulb moment”.
“Instead of trying to solve the problem by cleaning the beaches every day, let’s go to the source of the problem, and take the plastic bottle away,” said Kerrigan, now 31.
In 2016, the trio founded start-up company Generation Water, based on the Thai resort island of Phuket.
They partnered with Marriott, the world’s largest hotel brand, in January 2017 to come up with a sustainable alternative to plastic bottles that would be commercially competitive and meet the needs of resorts and authorities.
Two years on, the South African-born entrepreneurs explained the workings of a pilot water plant at the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa on Mai Khao beach, next to slogans saying “Save Water Drink Air” and “Made 100% from the air”.
Here, in the sweltering heat, two water generators suck in vapour from the air, which then condenses into water when it hits cold coils.
The water drips into tanks, making 4 000 litres a day. It is filtered, minerals are added, and it is put into reusable glass bottles. These are placed into 445 guest rooms at the JW Marriott Phuket and neighbouring Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa. The bottled water is also on trial at two Marriott holiday clubs nearby.
The move is part of a wider effort on the island to cut down on plastic bottles, rife in the hospitality industry, and a major problem in Asia and its travel hot spots. In many parts of Asia, tap water is unsafe to drink, so hotel guests get complimentary water, mostly in plastic bottles.
As much as 60% of the plastic found in the ocean comes from five Asian nations, including Thailand, according to US non-profit group Ocean Conservancy.
In 2017, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific organised a forum to encourage sustainable water management on resort islands.
On Phuket, which is half the size of Hong Kong, more hotels are being built, and water is in short supply.
Phuket was the world’s 11th top city destination in 2017, with 11.6 million international arrivals, according to global research company Euromonitor International.
To cope with the environmental impacts of this influx, nearly 70 hotels from the Phuket Hotels Association have pledged to cut the use of plastic bottles and straws by the end of the year.
Since Marriott started producing its own water four months ago, it has stopped more than 100 000 plastic bottles from entering landfill sites or oceans, the chain says.
It plans to expand the scheme to all Marriott resorts in southern Thailand, handing out 4 million glass bottles.
The “water from air” technology uses 78% less energy than producing standard bottled water, has a lower carbon footprint, and is about a third cheaper, Generation Water says.
Guests have reacted positively since the bottled water was introduced in September. They also like the taste. Michael Lawson, a lawyer from Sydney, said his children were picky about water. “But it’s very refreshing and they are fighting over it in the room.”
Melbourne student Jeremy Frydman said it was better than the tap water at home.
A challenge for Generation Water is explaining the science behind the technology. Ryan said guests asked about air pollution. But the water collected was clean, and the technology worked if the air was polluted as only water condensed, not the air or its contaminants.
With human activities emitting more greenhouse gases, the atmosphere is warming up, causing more water to evaporate, which further heated the air in “a vicious circle”. The water-from-air system helped reduce this vapour, said Kerrigan.
Thailand’s food and drug administration approved Generation Water, and the company is expanding. It is building a plant in Phuket, which will use solar energy to make “climate-positive” water, producing more than 20 000 litres a day.
Generation Water was eyeing the rest of Thailand, and talking to hotels in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Maldives, Kohler said. |