Made For A Better Tomorrow campaign donates water in exchange for pledge to recycle

Poland Spring and its five regional spring water sister brands have launched a national campaign called Made For A Better Tomorrow that includes a One-for-One Promise that commits to donate bottled water to communities in need for every pledge to recycle. 

Photo courtesy of BlueTriton Brands

The campaign coincides with Ice Mountain’s introduction of bottles with capacities less than 1 gallon that are made totally with recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This excludes the labels and caps, which are recyclable though not made with recycled material. With the addition of Ice Mountain, all six of BlueTriton Brands’ regionally distributed spring water brands now offer bottles made with 100-percent-recycled plastic and that are fully recyclable.

With the One-for-One Promise, for every person who pledges to recycle a bottle during the campaign, the regional spring water brands will donate a bottle of water to that region. The brands are working with Feeding America and local organizations to reach communities that have been hard hit by COVID-19, recovering from storms or facing longer term water access issues, according to BlueTriton Brands. 

The more people who pledge to recycle, the more water will be donated across all six brands, the company says, with a total minimum donation of nearly 200,000 bottles and a maximum donation of nearly 3 million half-liter bottles of water through Oct. 14.

“Now more than ever, people want to make a difference and are looking to connect with brands with purpose,” says Yumi Clevenger-Lee, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, BlueTriton Brands, Stamford, Connecticut. “Low recycling rates across the country and access to clean drinking water in some communities are two prevalent issues, and our new campaign invites people to join us and help make a meaningful impact on both our planet and on the health of fellow Americans. This is an example of how we are bringing to life our passion to be a force for good and a force for growth.”

In a new study conducted on behalf of Poland Spring and its sister brands, more than half of Americans (53 percent) say they gave back to their community within the past year. Additionally, more than half of Americans (56 percent) surveyed say they would rather give back virtually instead of in person. Poland Spring and the other BlueTriton regional brands seek to tap into this growing desire to give back and to inspire consumers to recycle more by connecting these important habits to giving back to communities in need.

“Challenges like the coronavirus pandemic have demonstrated just how resilient and remarkable communities around the country are—and what can happen when people come together to support one another,” says Blake Thompson, chief supply chain officer at Feeding America, Chicago. “We’re excited to be a part of the Made For A Better Tomorrow campaign to help bring drinking water to people who need it most.”

This campaign is the latest in Poland Spring’s MadeBetter mission for healthy communities and a healthy planet. In 2019, the company announced its plan to use 100 percent recycled plastic across its still water portfolio by 2022. Poland Spring also is collaborating with the University of Maine to explore bio-based packaging solutions, which could potentially use new materials derived from sustainably harvested Maine wood as an alternative to plastic.

The Made For A Better Tomorrow campaign will be hosted on each regional spring water brand’s website. To take the pledge for any of the brands, people can scan the QR code on the label or visit the websites, adding /pledge to the end of site’s address (for example, www.polandspring.com/pledge).

David Tulauskas, BlueTriton Brand’s chief sustainability officer, says 100 percent of the U.S. will be covered through the regional brands’ campaigns. “We are really excited to get people across the U.S. participating in this campaign.”

While he says BlueTriton has no mechanism to ensure that those people making pledges fulfill their promise to recycle, the company will be able to track the pledges by zip code to see where the donations will go. He says BlueTriton is counting on participants being inspired to recycle their empty bottles knowing that communities in need will benefit. He adds that the company hopes to encourage those individuals who are “confused or skeptical” about recycling to do so by connecting the emotion of helping their neighbors, making recycling “more meaningful.” Tulauskas adds, “People don’t have or are missing the emotional connection.”

Ice Mountain is the sixth and final regional BlueTriton brand to transition to 100 percent rPET packaging, he adds, noting that the company’s use of rPEt nearly tripled from 2019 to 2020.

He describes the companies BlueTriton purchases rPET from as “more than suppliers,” referring to them instead as “strategic partners.”

CarbonLite, the Los Angeles-based company that is among BlueTriton’s rPET suppliers, filed bankruptcy protection earlier this year. Tulauskas says CarbonLite continues to be a supplier despite its recent challenges. “We are optimistic that they will continue to remain an important supplier of ours,” he says, adding that it's important for BlueTriton to have “a portfolio of suppliers” for the rPET it requires.