WATER


Making the sustainable choice


Riding the wave of the 2018 wake-up call from David Attenborough, 2019 has been an interesting year so far with environmentalists sparking world-wide climate protests and telling UK politicians to 'listen to climate scientists'. But how will this affect water in vending?


Sustainability is a serious issue and permanent attitude changes are afoot. How can anyone have failed to notice the trend for personal refillable metal bottles or reusable cups for both hot and cold drinks? Most people, when out and about, consume water by the cup


from bottle-fed or mains-fed (POU) coolers typically found in the workplace, or by the bottle from a vending machine or other commercial point of sale. For water by the cup, mains-fed (POU) water coolers go some way


to addressing the plastic problem. They avoid having to transport, store, refrigerate and recycle bottles which is not just environmentally sound, but time and labour saving too.


COOLERS & CUPS The BWCA sees water coolers as “the sustainable choice” and this is backed up by data which shows that sales of bottled water and installations of units are on the increase. According to Phillipa Atkinson-Clow, general manager of the


British Water Cooler Association (BWCA): “Water coolers are ideal. People like the fact that they can drink water that tastes good, is chilled and is convenient. The fact that coolers are highly sustainable is a big factor - and increasingly so for homes as well as workplaces and public spaces. “Containers used for bottled water coolers are reused 40-50 times


on average and are fully recyclable. Water coolers are seen as the sustainable means of providing healthy hydration.” It’s also no surprise that offices and leisure and education sites are


increasingly turning to paper cup options to reassure environmentally conscious consumers and provide a solution that ticks all the boxes. Managing director of 4 Aces, Chris Penn says: “Anything that’s


easily disposed of must be justified and we all want to do our bit. Last year, we launched our PLANET range, including a 7oz size cup that’s ideal for the water industry, to ensure that we had a solid biodegradable option in the mix. The demand is apparent as this has now become one of our best-selling water products.”


BOTTLED As far as bottled water is concerned, last year’s hot summer boosted UK water drinks consumption by more than 7% to 4,267 million litres according to a report from drinks expert Zenith Global.


26 | vendinginternational-online.com A key driver for this was the hot summer and to a limited extent


the new soft drinks levy introduced in April 2018, which saw most manufacturers pre-emptively reformulate their products to avoid the tax. However, pressure increased on producers to improve their


environmental profile and Zenith Global believes that the debate about plastics and recycling will likely remain centre stage as more packaging from alternative materials become more mainstream. With the environment at the forefront, there are also some


ground-breaking hybrid solutions starting to take shape. One example is reusable bottles used in a vending environment.


An NFC tag on the bottle is used for customer identification and/or payment purposes. Once placed in the dispensing area, available credit checked and payment deducted, the vending machine can then dispense water directly into the reusable bottle. The BeviLaNatura by


Zerica team is taking this direction with its units which picked up a number of awards in 2018 for energy efficiency and sustainability. With NFC technology


available on request, new dispensers like the Sikélia and Kolumna use telemetry to display technical metrics on a dashboard, run remote diagnostics and even allow remote modification of certain parameters all via a dedicated internet portal. It’s clear that the


consumer focus on sustainability is changing the landscape of the water market and this trend is set to continue at pace. There’s a clear message for operators to choose the most sustainable products and solutions to meet the expectations of both customers and consumers.


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