Fifteen hundred plastic bottles are used every single second. That is over a billion bottles per day across the globe. The devastating scale of this issue was the spark that lit the fire under Nicole Doucet and Jess Page, co-owners of Open Water.
Nic and Jess came up with the idea for Open Water while they were in college at the University of Miami. A lot of their time was spent by the ocean where, sadly, they saw beautiful beaches increasingly polluted with plastic bottles. The defining moment was when they wandered into an on-campus screening of a documentary about ocean plastic and its impact. They knew they needed to do something.
In 2014 they did exactly that. Born out of a real passion for the ocean plastic problem and creating a healthier planet, Open Water was launched with the world’s first water in an aluminum bottle. Open Water is probably the only water brand that tells people to drink tap water first! At the same time, they know tap water is not always an option. Open Water was created to offer an intermediate, pragmatic alternative to plastic bottles because even the best of us sometimes forget our reusable bottles at home or cannot find a place to refill them. To date, Open Water has eliminated tens of millions of plastic bottles and have made it their goal to eliminate 1 billion over the next 5 years.
Nic and Jess have been careful and thoughtful about their packaging and their water because not all aluminum options or water sources are created equal. They use aluminum caps, their bottles are 70% lighter than others in the market, and they use the highest amount of post-consumer aluminum (almost 75% and growing!) They are the only certified Climate Neutral water brand in North America. The water itself is purified through a multistep process for a crisp but smooth taste. The pH is neutral, just like your body. As the brand grows, Open Water will be sourced locally across the country and eventually the globe. Open Water stands firmly against single-source brands that ship water from European mountaintops or South Pacific islands. Jess says, “It’s wasteful and isn’t something we believe in.”
Weaver Street Market is excited to partner with and introduce Open Water as a new Game Changer product in our stores. Open Water is certified women-owned, minority owned, and LGBT founded and led. Both Open Water and Weaver Street Market invite you to help create change!