Recognising the importance of sustainability: Eco-friendly hydration solutions.

Sarah Goldsmith | Sustainability, | Articles, Resources

From the beginning, Borg & Overström set out to provide locally sourced and sustainable drinking water solutions, eliminating the reliance on single-use plastic bottles.

Over the past 20 years, there has been significant progress in global sustainability and environmental practices. In turn, we have continued to evolve our own practices to become even more sustainable, embracing new technologies, improving manufacturing processes and reinforcing our commitment to make wise decisions that benefit both the planet and people.

Importance of clean water

Water is both essential to our planet and to all human, animal and plant life. The earth’s surface consists of 70% of water, with our oceans providing 96% of the world’s water, giving home to a myriad of marine life. These bodies of water are at risk from global warming, accelerated by energy consumption and greenhouse gases, whilst also being challenged by a plague of plastic pollution.

Nearshore manufacturer

Our biggest commitment to be increasingly sustainable is demonstrated by our complete shift in manufacturing to the UK and nearshore suppliers.

By reducing transportation distances, minimising the environmental impact of our operations and reducing the carbon footprint of each and every dispenser, we demonstrate our dedication to supporting local manufacturing and carefully select our suppliers. 80% of the components within our E-Series range are responsibly sourced within 200 miles of our production facilities.

In addition to the environmental benefits of nearshoring, our supply chain is more agile and reliable, ensuring high-quality control and reduced lead times. Better for the environment, better for our customers.

Green gases against global warming

Every Borg & Overström cooling system exclusively utilises eco-refrigerant gases, either R290 or R600a, which have a minimal global warming potential (GWP).

By doing so, we adhere to government legislation that restricts the use of harmful fluoridated gases.

Reducing ocean and river plastic pollution

Point-of-use water dispensing is a great way of reducing single-use plastic consumption.

Over 12 million single-use plastic bottles wash up on shores and riverbanks each year, damaging marine life and introducing microplastics into our natural water sources.

single-use plastic bottle on beach washed up from ocean. Importance of sustainable water dispensers

Packaging for products in recyclable. materials, 80& recycled pulp. Importance of sustainable water dispensers

Zero to landfill

Borg & Overström’s production facility operates on a zero to landfill approach, with the whole company embracing sustainable practices.

Our packaging has been redesigned to be eco-friendly, consisting of 80% recycled pulp and 20% sustainably sourced wood pulp and our packaging can be recycled up to eight times.

No single use plastic

By the very nature of our products, we have eliminated the need for single use plastic bottles with our water dispensers and integrated tap systems. Users can simply re-fill their re-usable bottles with fresh, filtered water at the push of a button. One of our drinking water dispensers can eliminate around 35,000 single-use plastic bottles in its lifetime.

Better for you, better for the planet.

Solar power

As a green business, we continue to make every effort to incorporate environmentally friendly energy management methods.

Energy is supplied to Borg & Overström HQ via solar panels and is entirely energy self-sufficient during daylight hours – down to our energy efficient PIR lighting – helping conserve energy whenever possible.

In the last five years we have moved towards electric vehicles, reducing our CO2 emissions by 207g/mi in April 2018 to just 154.5 g/mi today.

Solar panels for energy efficient environments showing the importance of sustainable drinking water solutions

Virtual showroom

Virtual showroom allows instant, global product demonstrations and technical support without the mileage.

One single sales advisor can virtually visit multiple countries in one day.

This equates to; 0 miles travelled and 0 CO2 emissions.

Developing sustainable technologies

Borg & Overström has also been able to show their sustainability focus through our technologies. Eco mode is an energy saving function, a designed feature that places your water dispenser, or tap system, into a ‘sleep’ mode. In this mode, your water dispenser will be saving energy while the dispense function is not being used.

This feature will automatically activate after your water dispenser or tap has not been used for 2 hours, or if the unit is in darkness for 6 and a half minutes.

DryChill® is a cooling technology to be used in our range of water dispensers. Chilling water direct from the source results in fresher tasting water. It is our most innovative and energy-efficient cooling system and is used to optimise the chilling performance of our high capacity S2 undercounter series used in our tap systems.

Green credentials

We are ISO 14001 accredited for Environment Management Systems and contribute to WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) for responsible electronic waste and we also hold EcoVadis, a globally recognised assessment platform that rates businesses’ sustainability based on four key categories: environmental impact, labour, and human rights standards, ethics, and procurement practices.

We will continue to find ways and measures to make sure our carbon footprint and environmental impact is reduced in every way we can. Our sales team are always on hand if you’d like to hear more about our sustainable practices or to book a virtual showroom tour.

Book a virtual showroom visit

Utilising the latest eco-friendly technology, from environmentally-friendly refrigerant gas to energy-efficient features such as EcoMode, the E-Series harmonises powerful performance with sustainability, eliminating the need for single-use plastic bottles.

Want to learn more about the E-Series? Download your own E-Series booklet for all the latest information and discover the innovative features, eco-friendly technologies, and tailored solutions.