Watering down carbon emissions
16 April 2008

New evidence has now emerged that replacing bottled water coolers with mains fed systems in the workplace could reduce UK businesses carbon footprint by a staggering 68,593 tonnes per annum, representing a 70 per cent emissions saving.

The new finding comes from a carbon footprint analysis carried out by Premier Watercoolers, a leading provider of plumbed in water coolers to businesses across the UK. Using industry statistics on the UK water cooler marketplace and Defra’s greenhouse gas conversion factors, Premier has assessed the environmental impact of the bottled and mains fed water coolers in terms of efficiency of water cooler equipment, transportation and servicing of equipment.

Taking all these elements into account the analysis conducted by Premier reveals that:

• CO2 emissions for the UK bottled market amounted to circa 98,000 tonnes compared to around 29,000 tonnes if all users of bottled water coolers converted to mains-fed systems.


• Transportation is the most significant contributor to carbon emissions of bottled water coolers - there are some 10.5 million deliveries of bottled water each year across more than 400,000 sites in the UK generating some 46,730 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

2008 has not been a good year so far for the bottled water industry. MP Graham Springer called for a stop to the quarter of a million bottles of water purchased by the House of Commons; Environment Minister Phil Woolas condemned the bottled water industry on national TV, saying it bordered on being ‘morally unacceptable’; and Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell sent a tap water policy order to all government departments, which will come into effect by the summer.

To help companies measure the environmental impact associated with the provision of drinking water in the workplace, Premier Watercoolers has launched the industry’s first-ever free Carbon Emissions Assessment scheme. The Assessment measures a company’s carbon emissions from its existing water coolers across single or multiple sites. It covers equipment efficiency, transportation, servicing trips, as well as taking into account any energy saving devices used in conjunction with business operating hours.

Companies that sign up to the scheme receive a Carbon Assessment Savings Certificate, which can be used to count towards an organisation’s continual improvement programme as part of IS014001.

Phil Langley, Managing Director of Premier Watercoolers and the brainchild of the pioneering carbon assessment tool, says: “There is no doubt that mains fed drinking water is more environmentally friendly, but the analysis we have undertaken reveals the scale of carbon emissions from the bottled water industry and the positive environmental impact that the UK plc market could make by getting their water ‘on tap’, via plumbed in water dispensers.’”

“Interestingly, our analysis proves that there are also significant differences in carbon emissions between mains fed water dispensers. This is due to varying equipment efficiencies and frequency of servicing. Companies, therefore, need to be aware of these factors when looking to specify a mains fed system.”

For more information on Premier’s free carbon emission assessment, call 0800 1955740.

Notes to editors:
Established in 2002, Premier Watercoolers is one of the largest and fastest growing independent suppliers of mains fed water coolers in the UK in what is now a £200million marketplace.

The company is a specialist service provider of mains fed drinking water dispensers and consumables and is founded on the principles of high quality products backed by market leading service and customer care.

Premier supplies a range of businesses and organisations, from government departments, hospitals and schools to blue chip and household name companies.

For more information:
Sophie Whittle: sophie@jbp.co.uk
JBP Public Relations
0117 907 3400
www.jbp.co.uk

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