Awarded! aquaRömer receives reusable innovation award
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During a virtual press conference, aquaRömer GmbH & Co. KG was awarded the special prize of the Reusable Innovation Award of the German Environmental Aid and the Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg (Reusable Initiative Foundation). With this award, the environmental, nature and consumer protection organisation and the foundation honour the "courageous and progressive actions of aquaRömer in completely dispensing with single-use containers and relying entirely on reusable containers", as Barbara Metz, deputy managing director of DUH, explained at the award ceremony.
aquaRömer is the only mineral fountain in Baden-Württemberg that fills exclusively in PET and glass reusable containers. This clearly distinguishes the fountain from the district of Schwäbisch Hall from the regional competition, which still mainly uses the crate-based one-way system Petcycle. Almost two thirds of all bottles of mineral water sold in Germany are disposable. "The decision to rely exclusively on reusables thus also has economic consequences," emphasises Nadja Ohlendorf, Managing Director of aquaRömer. "We are thus deliberately foregoing an entire market segment - out of conviction."
Reusable is environmental protection
"Reusable beverage packaging avoids waste, saves resources and protects the climate," DUH emphasises. "In Germany alone, up to 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents could be saved if all non-alcoholic drinks were filled exclusively in reusable instead of one-way bottles." While disposable and petcycle bottles are only used once and then destroyed, despite a functioning deposit system, PET returnable bottles can be refilled up to 20 times and glass bottles up to 50 times. This not only saves energy and resources, but also reduces the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases.
aquaRömer: pioneer in reusable bottles
In the past, aquaRömer was often ahead of the industry when it came to reusable bottles and was the first fountain in the southwest to introduce PET reusable bottles in 1998. The traditional fountain from Mainhardt has received the DUH Reusable Innovation Award for the second time since 2018. "The award is both recognition and an incentive," explains Nadja Ohlendorf. "We continue to move positively into the future by working continuously and consistently on the avoidance and reduction of climate-damaging emissions." Previously unavoidable emissions are compensated for by aquaRömer through certified climate protection projects, and so since the beginning of the year the company and all its products have been climate neutral.
Nadja Ohlendorf has a simple and clear reason for aquaRömer's commitment to sustainability: "Unlike tap water, which has to be chemically treated and made drinkable, mineral water is a purely natural product. An intact environment is a mandatory prerequisite for this and sustainable, environmentally friendly action is therefore part of our DNA."
