26/07/2018

Reducing single-use plastics in the office

Creator of the world’s most advanced drinking water systems, Zip Water UK, urge architects to help offices reduce single-use plastic consumption.

In the short space of 50 years, our dependence on plastic has risen so high it’s crashed down on us in a tide of plastic waste – and we’ve only just noticed we’re swimming in it. The material began to soar in popularity as a lightweight, durable and low cost packaging solution in the 1960s, but today it’s costing us the earth. Discarded grocery bags swell in our oceans, drinks bottles ebb onto our coastlines and straws choke sea life.

According to a report published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. As startling as that is, it’s easy to see why: every day 38.5m plastic bottles are used in the UK alone.1 Just over half of those make it to recycling, while the rest are put into landfill, burned, or leak into the environment and oceans2 where they will take over 450 years to break down naturally.³

Businesses must be a dominant contributor to these figures, with many large offices relying on vast supplies of bottled water for busy meeting rooms and water coolers to hydrate their workforces. And while many producers of water coolers offer a recycling service to customers, the carbon footprint accrued by the production, transport and delivery of cooler bottles surely negates these green intentions.

The most environmentally friendly solution is for businesses to say no to single-use plastics in the first place. Architects and specifiers can have a direct impact on reducing a business’ plastic consumption by choosing a sustainable, mains-fed drinking water system at the design stage, eliminating the need for plastic bottles.

Committed to helping businesses achieve this, Zip Water UK has developed the HydroChill range of sustainable drinking water systems. These innovative, high capacity drinking water systems can deliver up to 280 litres of filtered chilled water – which is the equivalent of 373 refillable bottles (75cl) – perfect for even the busiest of offices.

With a huge range of high demand options available, there’s a HydroChill system to suit any sized organisation by delivering as much filtered chilled, ambient or sparkling water as required. Plus a choice of counter-top or under-counter chillers means you can choose a system to fit any space or design.

By specifying a HydroChill system, you are not only protecting the earth but the health of employees. Recent research from Orb Media has revealed microplastics in bottled water, opening up wider questions about the health effects these particles may have on those ingesting them.

All HydroChill systems benefit from Zip MicroPurity, which filters out contaminants and ensures clean, pure water. Providing employees with an abundant supply of this healthier, better tasting water will not only boost green credentials but productivity and wellbeing in the office, too.

Zip Water UK is partnering with Architecture Today for the Workplace Design Charette, an exclusive full-day architect design workshop taking place on 7 June in London. The event will see the brightest thinkers in architecture and workplace design assemble to design the office of the future and explore how the kitchen will be the beating heart of successful organisations.

¹ Source: The Guardian

² Source: Recycle Now via The Guardian

³ Source: U.S National Park Service; Mote Marine Lab, Sarasota, FL.