We have come across an interesting article by by DON CROSBY of the Toronto based Sun Times dealing with a bottled water company in Ontario. Most bottled water is treated by ozone, so it is of significant interest to us. In this case, the company, Ice river Springs, the second largest water bottling company in Canada, is trying to make their product more environmentally friendly.
Ice River has plans to recycle plastic containers and reuse the material by establishing a plastic recycling facility that will keep used plastic from being shipped to China for processing and shipped back.
“Ice River Springs will be the first in North America with a bottle-to-bottle recycling facility.” said Sandy Gott, one of the family owners of Ice River Springs. In 2005 the company opened Blue Mountain Plastics which produces plastic containers for its own use and for sale to others in the food and beverage industries but relies on buying the raw product from offshore sources. In recent years the company has taken several corporate decisions toward increased efficiency developing environmental awareness within the company. Last summer the company won an industry award for its use of recycled cardboard in its packaging the same year it launched a line of products that are packaged in tetra packs which are made 75 per cent out of paper. Last year in conjunction with Grey Sauble Conservation the company planted 16,000 trees on its properties.
The company has reduced by 40 per cent the amount of plastic used in its plastic bottles by creating a lighter bottle. It’s also reduced the amount of fuel trucks use to deliver its products by 60 per cent through the use of tri-axle trailers which carry 12,000 pounds per load.
Water is put through one micron size filter. The raw water is then subjected to the process of ozonation — a water treatment process that destroys bacteria and other microorganisms through an infusion of ozone, which is gas produced by subjecting oxygen molecules to high electrical voltages and adding a third atom of oxygen to water.
Ozonation is every effective for inactivating Cryptosporidium bacteria and other naturally-occurring organisms. “It’s 2,000 times more effective at killing bacteria than chlorine,” said Gott, “when you put it in a bottle and put the cap back on it reverts back to oxygen. So there’s no residual for the consumer and no by-product. The reason we do that is because bottled water has a shelf life of two years,” Gott said.