Davidson startup Boomerang Water recently partnered with a global manufacturer to amplify its mission of providing sustainable bottled water.
Boomerang, founded in 2020, announced on Sept. 20 its partnership with Ball Corp. (NYSE: BALL), an international aluminum beverage packager and supplier. Colorado-based Ball will supply its aluminum bottles for the Boomerang bottling system. The local startup’s technology offers bottled water in glass or aluminum packaging instead of plastic. The aluminum bottles will be available at resorts, cruise ships, campuses and more.
Boomerang’s bottling system power-washes, sanitizes, fills and caps pure water in refillable, returnable and recyclable Ball aluminum bottles. The fully returnable bottles will eliminate the waste and carbon releases caused by manufacturing and transporting disposable bottles, Boomerang said.
Jason Dibble, co-founder and CEO of Boomerang Water, said the startup’s bottling system can produce more than 3,000 bottles of sustainable water per eight-hour shift. He said the whole concept of Boomerang’s partnership with Ball is the reusability of the aluminum bottles paired with the system.
"Ball's aluminum bottles are the perfect complement for our Boomerang bottling system since they can get reused over and over and ultimately recycled easily at the end of their life,” Dibble said.
Aluminum is both economically valuable and environmentally effective. It can be recycled endlessly without loss of material. Through the Ball-Boomerang alliance, the aluminum water bottles can be reused and turned into new bottles within 60 days.
“We aim to be a strategic supplier to innovators, like Boomerang, that are finding new ways to bring consumers and businesses sustainable options and make a difference for the planet,” said Jay Billings, president of Ball Aerosol Packaging, in a statement.
The partnership comes at a time when 85% of consumers nationwide have shifted to shopping greener over the past five years, according to Food Industry Executive.
“We empower organizations by putting our system in their location,” Dibble said. “And allowing them to get rid of their plastic with our system, but specifically with Ball. They're really helping us with the credibility around a technology like that and believing in reuse.”
Dibble said Boomerang needed more than just an aluminum can, but also an aluminum seal around the water-bottle opening. Ball helped the startup eliminate plastic seals and open up into a market where companies are seeking more environmentally friendly solutions.
“Aluminum has a significant advantage in weight in where it can be used,” said Jerrod Freund, the other co-founder of Boomerang Water. “When you think about where our system works, it's in resorts. It's in cruise ships. It's in places where glass is kind of a no-no. We believe that 80%-plus of the market that we will go into is actually going to use aluminum. So it really expanded our market potential.”
Freund said Boomerang’s system is also cost-effective. He said one of the startup’s largest customers that switched from single-use plastic to Boomerang saved up to $2,500 a month by using its sustainable system.
“They (Ball) really believed in the system,” Freund said. “It really put us in a position of believing in what we were doing was ultimately going to succeed, and we have a lot of contracts now. We're building a lot of systems. We're in the commercial production of our systems.”
Boomerang Water’s new bottling system is now used at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Hawaii, where Ball’s aluminum water bottles are also widely available.
The startup’s system makes glass bottles in addition to aluminum. Boomerang’s services are ideal for venues where the bottles can be returned easily such as resorts, cruise ships, convention centers, corporate and university campuses, military and government bases, and industrial and manufacturing facilities.
