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The Eco-Capitalist by Tom Szaky
July 22, 2008
Don't Blame Bottled Water!
Posted at 10:55 AM
In launching TerraCycle's lines of liquid fertilizer, cleaners, repellents, etc., I realized something: Almost all products that are sold as liquid in a bottle -- from window cleaner to ant repellent -- are in fact extremely similar to bottled water. In most cases, the difference is only 1% to 2% of the contents. In other words, these products are typically 98% to 99% water -- no matter which brand you're looking at, eco-friendly or otherwise. This is true even with TerraCycle products.
Most people in the bottled water industry fear that we are nearing the end of selling bottled water as we know it today. If that is the case, why are we not trying to reinvent all of the other products that have the same issues as bottled water?
Personally, I think it's because consumers wouldn't want to buy concentrate and have to go to the trouble of diluting it. But suppose we sold bottles that are empty but for a little concentrate in them, and then all the consumers have to do is fill the bottle with tap water when they get home? Personally, I fear that the lack of weight and substance will deter consumers from buying the products in this form.
So what is the solution? Can anyone suggest a way to sell these products that the average consumer will accept?
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This is a really interesting insight, which I haven't heard from anyone else in the midst of this whole bottled water debate. I wonder how much fuel would be saved if Coca Cola and Windex were shipped without the water? But I imagine mixing would be a problem as well. You'd lose some consistency if people had to mix their own soda and cleaning fluid at home.
There is already a product line like that... it powder form drinks.. prepackaged to add to your 8 oz of bottle water,, companies like propel, gatorade, cystal light.. simply orange.. anyways thats drink flavorings.. when will the cleaning products happen? maybe not too long...
could be a safty issue .. if you spill a constated mix on your self or a kid gets a hold of it perhaps it could hold a huge risk
I would add a picture of a smiling planet earth and a comment about how many tons of CO2 saved so far on the product.
Also play up your ability to add the "favourite liquid", water, juice, beer, etc.
Also easier to store in your home (big sell for those in NYC apartments.
If it is true that cleaners,repellance etc are 99% water their is simpe solution to it.If chemical concentrate in powde form it can be compressed into a pill with the same volume of product deluted in original bottle.Each pill need to be wrap separately for protection ahd late reconstituted in original bottle.If chamical concetrate l liquid form i can be put in jeii copsule similar to babble bath copsules sold in the store and late reconstitute in original bittle with the same amout of water.
There are some pretty big differences between bottled water and bottled fertilizer.
First, in most places in the US you can get high quality water in several outlets in every home and office. Therefore the bottle and transportation "costs" of bottled water are a complete waste.
Second, a bottle of fertilizer needs some boundaries to keep it from being used in unintended ways... such as child resistant caps.
Many products come in a concentrated form. I buy simple green in a concentrate form and then mix with water. Fertilizer like Miracle grow is in a powder to be mixed with water format, and I buy the herbicide Round-up in a liquid concentrate. As a commenter above mentioned, many drinks are in that form... I buy Kool Aid, Lipton Flavored Teas, and Crystal Lite, and Propel that way.
So for your products, I don't see it as an issue. Sell a container with the powder or liquid concentrate in one container and either an empty bottle attached, or directions for using a recycled bottle. You need to figure out the labeling and safety measures.
the difference is you can get often better quality water (much water is marketing hype) out of the tap..so its wasteful- as is trucking, shipping and flying water to parts of the world with no water shortage (like the Eastern US) - but I think consumer patterns are changing - its now eco-chic to carry around those kleen canteen bottles instead of plastic...
Maxsea is an excellent powdered all organic fertilizer. Why not freeze dry or lyopholize worm juice? Then again you are taking care of a lot of waste by packaging the solution form. Seems like you have a great system in place, it would be interesting to see if your powdered poop worked the same. I am sure you have already tried this since this is the world you live in.
I have been making my own cleaning products for a while now which is very cheap and use the same spray bottles over again. Why buy when you can make your own?
Does it need to be a liquid? Artificial fertilisers and ant repellent are often powders in my experience, so I can't really see why they need to be liquids (although of course you need to measure the cost of evaporating the liquid compared to shipping the bottle). But then you might well be producing a lot of heat from your compost heaps which could be used to evaporate the liquid. Hmmm..
Maybe you could find a way to have your window cleaner liquid embedded into a cloth/sponge/something instead of shipping the liquid.
Good to see someone seriously thinking about this stuff though.
So we all know that it takes about four twelve ounce bottles of water to make the plastic for one bottle of water. Ergo, the cost of a bottle of water is more for the plastic, transportation and marketing than it is for the water. The bottle full of water costs 4,000 times more than the water itself.
But the problem is, you're average Joe doesnt know this stuff.
This is where you have the advantage (by using recycled bottles) You're already conserving 4 bottles of water. If you do figure out a way to ship dry ingredients, you will be conserving 5 bottles of water. (60 ounces)
If you could work that into an add campaign, I think people would be all over it!
I prefer the idea of refilling my bottle over buying concentrates because my goal is to reduce the amount of plastic used, period. There is also variability in water conductivity and this can make your product perform differently. You don't want to lose customers because of the water. (Didn't I once hear that bagels are better in NY because of the water?)
So have distributors buy in bulk from you and then customers can refill their bottles. I have started to buy shampoo and liquid hand soap this way.
I know this doesn't get you away from shipping water but it does address the bottle part. Or maybe your distributors could be trusted to mix up from concentrates?
BTW How many times can you reuse those plastic containers? What happens when they become too damaged for reuse? We really need to shift away from plastics but that is a whole other blog.
EZ-FLO specializes in micro-proportioning concentrates accurately so that they are at the correct dilution level when they come out the end of an irrigation or hose system (technology can also be adapted to other applications as well). You are correct in your assertion that most people don't want to go to the bother of diluting concentrates before applying. Concentrates are cheaper to ship and take up less shelf space so they can be highly valuable to the manufacturer and the retailer assuming you still create the pull-through sale for them.
The large detergent suppliers ( e.g. P&G) are successfully introducing concentrates (albeit that self dilute). They are also figuring out strategies for selling their concentrate value proposition so the product can be priced fairly in the consumer's eyes. Consumers can feel they are getting less than the previous versions that were less concentrated. Smaller packaging emphasizing equivalent performance backed by results is their principal strategy to overcome that challenge. They are learning to promote their "eco-friendly packaging" as well. As you know TerryCycle already does that in spades!
Dispensers that are re-usable are a much better way to go than one-use dispensers, especially ones that can automatically mix and dilute the products to the correct specification.
Mr. Szaky your fear is true. Most of the consumers will hesitate to buy your product in small-size (without water) if they have another big-size (with water) option unless you give them something extra:
- less price than others (cheap consumers)
- giving confidence that your product is more powerfull than others (profesional consumers)
- giving information that with your products we save our world (eco-friendly consumers)
I do not know your product line's consumer spectrum, what type of consumer you have is the key point to go ahead.
For all types of customers, you might want to give a one-time free bottles then they can mix the powder with water, no-one want to bother finding another extra bottle. Or you can still carry your original bottles but without water, in this case customer will just add-up tap water in it they do not have to know the dilute formula.
These are my quick answers but more time need to spend to find a best solution I hope you will get one and we will save our world
Hi
Your innovation team has likely solved this already, but suggest looking into a "refill" size concentrate that could be used to refill a larger TC size already purchased.
Consumers who have already purchased your product know and trust you, and this might accept the price/size differential for a refill better. You can also promote the refill on the full-size bottle to advertise to consumers at no added cost.
Probably best NOT to offer a non-concentrate the same size as a concentrate to avoid a direct size/price comparison that would disadvantage the concentrate.
Work with retail buyers to develop and implement the consumer communications. Unilever partnered with Wal Mart to develop and launch the 2x concentrate detergent. Wal Mart became the champion in selling it to their consumers, and eventually made it the category standard, leveling the field of competition.
You can also partner w/ retailers to test market and do focus groups, which Unilever did to assess consumer response/willingness to buy a 3x concentrate vs 2x concentrate, resulting in Unilever's choice to market the 2x.
In crafting the consumer communication, choose factors that represent a consumer benefit (e.g., smaller bottle to store, fewer trips to the store) as well as the broader eco-benefits, in concrete terms (e.g, each bottle saves X gallons of water, oil, trees, GHG emissions, energy). Important to educate consumer about the full environmental picture and your broad responsibility, not just the issue of the day, and different issues appeal to different consumers. Make eco-benefits personal as well - "x trees in our forests" of "x gals of our planet's" water versus just trees or water.
Franchising could also be a more eco-friendly option if you stick w/ non-concentrated product.
Maybe it's possible to sell the initial batch of concentrate in the appropriate bottles (8oz for example) then selling the concentrate refill packs that they just have to put into the bottle and add the correct amount of water.
Powder detergents are available and the concept of powdered drinks to be mixed in with water has been around for a long while so it's not as if educating the market is going to be too hard.
The biggest challenge might be the perceived loss of efficacy or value when your product is compared to a rival. Unless doing things this way dramatically lowers your cost and you can pass these savings onto your consumer.
have chemicals in "bulk dispensers" at supermarkets so you can just bring in your jug and fill it up (over and over again). we do it with bulk bins and it works. chemicals (with the added water) would work too.
easy solution.
bottled water isn't about "clean" water, it is about convenience. it is easier to grab a bottle and toss it later. yes, yes, we can have good old metal bottles, something permanent, that is the easy and correct solution. but the root cause it convenience, not taste, not purity, etc. So ensure your argument is directed the right area to ensure it is effective.
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