BlueTriton Taps Circularity of Aluminum Bottles

BlueTriton Brands, a leading bottled-water marketer, is walking the sustainability talk with the introduction of aluminum bottles for several of its brands. The packaging is fully recyclable, and a portion of the new bottles’ sales is earmarked for environmental groups.

Stamford, CT-based BlueTriton announced in April 2024, Earth Month, that five of its brands will initially be available in the new metal packaging — Poland Spring, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Arrowhead, and Pure Life — with more brands to follow. The aluminum-bottle sizes are 20 ounces for Pure Life and 25 ounces for the other four brands.

“BlueTriton owns a portfolio of water brands we all know and love, and we see sustainability as core to our strategy,” says Ed Ferguson, BlueTriton’s chief sustainability officer. “That’s why we’ve invested in aluminum packaging” and partnered with 1% for the Planet, a nonprofit.

Through the nonprofit, BlueTriton will donate 1% of its aluminum-bottle sales to environmental causes. The nonprofit’s network of more than 5,200 businesses supports thousands of environmental partners in 100-plus countries.

“We’ve joined 1% for the Planet to help ensure future generations can access safe, sustainably sourced drinking water,” Ferguson says. “Our partnership will provide funds to organizations that seek to help conserve watersheds and wetlands for future generations and that provide access to drinking water to communities that lack access to healthy hydration. We look forward to building our relationship.”

Text on the back of the aluminum bottles describes BlueTriton’s sustainability mission, including both water conservation and packaging. Each statement is tailored to the brand, but the 1% for the Planet partnership is highlighted on the back of all five metal bottles.

A circular approach.

The aluminum-bottle launch aligns with BlueTriton’s recently announced sustainability goals, which include using 100% recyclable, reusable, and/or compostable beverage packaging by 2030.

The metal containers also conform with the company’s focus on circular packaging. “Aluminum can be recycled into new beverage packaging and other industrial products,” Ferguson says. “On average, aluminum beverage containers are recycled at a higher rate compared to plastic and glass in the US; however, the biggest barrier to these materials being made into new products is whether these products are collected after their initial use.”

He adds, “This collection challenge is present for all of our beverage packaging and is why we support recycling and reuse collection systems, which can achieve [greater than] 85% collection rates of glass, plastic, and aluminum beverage containers, [as] in Oregon’s recycling refunds program.”

BlueTriton’s other packaging formats include glass and plastic single-serving bottles. In addition, the company owns and operates ReadyRefresh, a reuse-and-refill program for home and office beverage delivery in the United States. ReadyRefresh water and other beverages are sold in reusable 3- and 5-gallon bottles that are collected, sanitized, and refilled.