We care. You care too. That's a good start.
This is a journey
- The road less travelled
Our pods are up to 99% more transport efficient than flavored drinks sold in single-use plastic bottles.*
- The road less plastic
Our pods use up to 88% less plastic than flavored drinks sold in single-use plastic bottles.**
- The road less temporary
Our modular drinking system is extremely long-lasting. You only replace where it breaks.
The road less travelled
By moving our entire production to the EU, we will cut down transport distance for the pods by over 9,000 miles in total. That's way over 1,500 Mount Everest's stacked on top of each other.
Less transportation = less pollution.
The road less plastic
air up® pods need up to 88% less plastic than a pre-filled and single-use drink alternative. One tiny, pod flavors at least 1.3 gallons of water, which could lead to a reduction of 5 single-use plastic bottles per pod. More so, the pods you use are made from recyclable materials.***
Yes, it's still plastic which isn't perfect, but we're on it.
The road less dirty
Our goal is crystal clear: Level up sustainability by design along the entire product lifecycle. Using renewable energy sources for our production is a big part of this.
Our pod production in the Netherlands is entirely powered by wind energy, and our Tritan bottle facility in Austria gets 100% of its electricity from renewables.
The road less travelled is long
Sustainability is an ongoing process - we see it as a journey that we take together.
For example, most of our packaging is already made from recyclable and recycled materials.
For 2024, we want to do even better.
Questions or suggestions? Get in touch
Want to see the numbers?
* The road less travelled - What makes transporting pods more transport efficient
It’s safe to say that transporting our pods is more efficient than transporting pre-filled drinks. But, here’s a better breakdown in terms of what that means for transportation and pollution:
For air up, 1 container can transport around 144,000 3-pod pouches (or 432,000 individual pods), which flavors up to 550,000 gallons of water.
For bottled drinks, 1 container can transport roughly 35,000 single-use water bottles at 16.9 oz per bottle.
The volume of water that 1 container of air up® pods can flavor equals 119 containers of single-use 16.9 oz water bottles.
Overall, this means the transportation of our flavor pods is up to 99% more efficient in comparison to 16.9 oz single-use water bottles.
** The road less plastic - Why our pods need up to 88% less plastic than flavored drinks sold in single-use plastic bottles
How have we got that number?
We’re glad you asked! So: 1 pod flavors over 1 gallon of water, which can lead to a reduction of 10 - 16.9oz plastic bottles per pod. This means that 1 pouch (that contains 3 pods) flavors around 4 gallons of water. With pre-filled single-use drinks, this would require just under 30 - 16.9oz plastic bottles.
An air up® pouch with 3 pods weighs 1.2oz (0.3oz for the pouch, 0.25oz per pod and 0.05oz per transparent case). If you compare this to the same amount of pre-bottled drinks, this can require almost ten times more plastic - around 10.5oz for 30 - 16.9oz bottles. In relative terms, this means our pods = 88% less plastic waste compared to single-use plastic bottles.
*** Everything you need to know about pod recycling
How to dispose of the pod and packaging may differ in your area. Please check with your local municipality on recycling guidance for different materials.
Pods
The pod and transparent case go into the plastic bin. Generally, we strive to use as many recyclable materials as possible because it enables the materials to stay in the loop and become new products. This not only reduces the waste in landfill sites, but also reduces the air and water pollution caused by extracting and processing raw materials and saves energy and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions (according to Veolia).
Pod Pouches
The pouches for our pods are currently not recyclable and go into the household bin. They have an aluminum layer on the inside as a protective layer to conserve the aroma. We plan to change the pouch into a recyclable, mono-material soon.
