BlueTriton Brands Extends Environmental Plans with New 2030 Impact Goals in Water, Climate and Packaging

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Apr 25, 2024, 10:00 ET

STAMFORD, Conn., April 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, BlueTriton Brands, Inc. ("BlueTriton"), a water and beverage company in North America, released its 2030 sustainability goals as a part of the company's ongoing efforts to further strengthen shared watersheds and wetlands, improve circular packaging and reduce carbon footprint.

"We are on a mission to create a healthier, more hydrated future for everyone, everywhere, by building a better water company that's laser-focused on helping to protect freshwater sources and reducing our impact on the environment. Our 2030 sustainability goals represent what we believe are tangible plans to make good on our ambitions to level up our efforts and to collaborate with others for a better tomorrow," said Ed Ferguson, Chief Sustainability Officer of BlueTriton Brands.

We recognize our path towards a sustainable future is not without challenge, and the purpose of these goals is to drive accountability, transparency, partnership, and ultimately meaningful impact on environmental topics important to our people and the local communities we serve. Our aspirations extend beyond these goals, and we look forward to collaborating with others who share a vision of healthy hydration for everyone, everywhere, always.

Our 2030 goals build upon our 2025 goals and represent roadmaps to advance positive impact by maintaining third-party water stewardship enterprise and site-level verifications; replenishing water in priority regions; partnering for circular solutions to packaging and addressing our climate footprint and that of our value chain, as feasible.

Water Stewardship

By 2030, aim to replenish¹ 100% of water used or displaced² by our sites in priority regions³ facing shared water challenges
Maintain independent water stewardship verification through 2030 for our full enterprise and aim for 100% of our sites in priority regions³

Water is a renewable resource if it is used responsibly, and that's why we have set out to return water to the local watersheds and communities with a water replenishment goal for high priority areas in Texas, California, and Colorado which face shared challenges on water availability, quality and access. Part of the consideration in selecting these priority areas is their water-related physical, quality, and contextual (community) attributes. We worked with the World Resources Institute, a global environmental think tank, to identify risks present at each location, and then BlueTriton selected priority areas for our targets.

We will be investing in site water efficiency, environmental improvements (like our support of wetland restoration with Ducks Unlimited), community access (like our support to bring piped-water infrastructure to communities in Texas), and monitoring to measure our progress. Helping us to achieve this ambition, we have a dedicated team of National Resource Managers on staff, including geologists, hydrogeologists, and engineers working to understand our owned and managed water resources, their natural cycle, and how best to support their sustainability for generations to come.

In addition to working to help protect access to safe, sustainably sourced water, we also must continue to find better, more sustainable ways to make the healthy choice of water an easy one.

Circular Packaging

By 2030, aim for 100% of beverage packaging⁴ to be recyclable⁵, reusable⁶ and/or compostable⁷
By 2030, aim for 100% of beverage packaging⁴ to be made from an average of 50% recycled or renewable material⁸

BlueTriton designs its products to be widely recyclable and now offers aluminum and glass packaging in addition to plastic and large-format refillable options and water filtration systems. We recently launched aluminum bottles for Arrowhead®, Deer Park®, Ice Mountain®, Pure Life®, and Poland Spring®. Our current PET plastic bottles are made from an average of 28% recycled materials, which is nearly double industry requirements. We aspire to make strides towards increasing circular packaging through reimagining design and responsibly sourced, local materials with innovative R&D, partnering with our supply chain, customers, and communities, and thinking on ways to address end-of-life challenges though investments in improved collection and recovery with our partners The Recycling Partnership, Closed Loop Partners, and advocacy efforts such as the U.S. Plastics Pact and participating (this week) in the UN Environmental Programme's negotiations to create an international agreement on tackling plastic pollution.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promoting energy efficiency across our value chain and in line with the leading climate science is important to our strategy to address climate change.

Climate Action

By 2030, aim for 100% of purchased electricity to come from renewable sources
By 2030, aim to reduce our absolute operational GHG emissions (Scope 1 & 2) by 42% vs. 2022⁹
By 2030, aim to reduce absolute transport GHG emissions (Scope 3) by 25% vs. 2022⁹
By 2030, aim for 70% of our packaging suppliers¹⁰ to have set their own science-based targets⁹

BlueTriton has set out GHG reduction goals across our operational and value chain footprint and has committed to setting [near-term] science-based targets. Through our key initiatives, adopting alternative fuels and ambition to source 100% renewable electricity, equipment efficiency upgrades, reducing transportation milage and working with our value chain we aim to achieve our reductions as we build a better water company in the face of future climate-related physical and transition risks.

"Replenish" refers the volumetric water benefits associated qualifying activities completed by, or on behalf of, BlueTriton as verified by a 3^rd party against the Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA) 1.0 guidance or forthcoming guidance from VWBA 2.0 or the Science Based Targets Network Freshwater Hub
"Water used or displaced" represents the volume of consumptive water use for BlueTriton products (e.g. water contained in final products) and the volume of non-product water use which results in water being moved outside of the local watershed (e.g. evaporated water or wastewater treated by an off-site facility not located in the site's watershed).
"Priority Regions" are determined based on presence and severity of water-related challenges shared by BlueTriton and local communities such as water availability, quality, and access. The identified priority regions may change over time due to evolving science, information, or local conditions or due to acquisitions, divestitures, or major changes to our operations. We have identified seven sites located in priority regions based on water availability challenges identified in WWF's Water Risk Filter and WRI's Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas. Together they currently account for less than 10% of our total operational water use.
"Packaging" refers to all packaging materials utilized in the saleable beverage product or during transportation & distribution (e.g. bottle, cap, label, tray, films, pallets).
"Recyclable". As defined under relevant or select applicable law or regulation. Materials are recyclable only where recycling facilities exist. Recycling facilities may not exist in your area, and BlueTriton does not take any steps to verify whether recycling facilities exist in your area or that existing facilities are able to or in fact process recyclable materials.
"Reusable" refers to any beverage packaging which is designed to be collected and used multiple times for its original intended purpose by, or on behalf of, BlueTriton (e.g. 5-gallon bottles which are designed to be collected, sanitized, and refilled, or pallets which are designed to be collected and redistributed)
"Compostable" refers to beverage packaging which is in compliance with ASTM standards, such as, ASTM D-6400 and ASTM 6868 (coatings), ISO 18606.
"Renewable material", as defined by GRI, is continually replenished at a rate equal to or greater than the rate of depletion and includes materials sourced from suppliers certified against sustainable resource management standards, such as, standards from Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) or Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC).
Goal language may change as it is subject to pending validation by the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi)
"Packaging material suppliers" refers to our largest category of Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services. This includes suppliers of materials used to make packaging (e.g., resin) and suppliers of premade packaging products (e.g., glass bottles) for primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging used by BlueTriton.

Media Contact and for Interview Opportunities:
BlueTriton Brands
Courtney Zieller
Manager of External Communications
[email protected]

About BlueTriton Brands:

BlueTriton Brands, Inc. ("BlueTriton") is a water and beverage company in North America that produces and distributes a portfolio of brands of spring water, purified water, and other beverages including Poland Spring®, Deer Park®, Ozarka®, Ice Mountain®, Zephyrhills®, Arrowhead®, Origin™, Saratoga®, AC+ION®, Pure Life®, B'EAU®, and Splash Refresher™.

BlueTriton Brands also owns and operates ReadyRefresh®, a reuse and refill platform for home and office beverage delivery in the United States, providing access to a broad portfolio of water and beverage products, the majority of which are sold in reusable, multiserve bottles. As a leader in home delivery and reusable packaging, the company strives to save customers time by conveniently and more sustainably delivering products to their door. ReadyRefresh is proud of its role in helping reduce waste by delivering healthy hydration to our neighbors, businesses, and communities in 3- and 5-gallon reusable bottles, which are collected, sanitized, and refilled.

Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, BlueTriton is a privately held company with operations and distribution primarily in the United States and Canada, employing more than 7,000 employees. BlueTriton manages water resources for long-term sustainability and helps safeguard more than 20,000 acres of watershed area owned by the company from harm and destruction. The company sources from 56 springs and has 30 production facilities across North America, with some verified to the Alliance for Water Stewardship ("AWS") Standard. BlueTriton is a Water Champion with The Water Council and has committed to be verified under their WAVE program.

About World Resources Institute:

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action. WRI works with governments, companies, and civil society to build solutions to urgent environmental challenges. www.wri.org

SOURCE BlueTriton Brands