In Honor of World Water Day: Q Water Filtration System

Rethink Fresh
Mar 22, 2012 6:35 PM ET

A poster hangs in the window of a new Eco-Friendly Hotel:

“From a mountain spring across the other side of the world, to a bottling plant - into a bottle - a truck - a ship - a warehouse, into a fridge and consumed within 10 minutes.

This is why we no longer offer bottled water.”

The logo, a simple crisp bright blue Q, tells the customer that the establishment they are walking into proudly supports and serves Q Water in their venue. 

In 2009 Q Water was proud to announce that, along with their partners in the hospitality industry, they collectively started to eliminate plastic and glass bottles from Canadian landfill sites. A running count on their website shows over 10,513,927 decanters filled and bottles saved and that number just keeps on going up with over 250 restaurants on board across Canada. Imagine the difference that could be made if all restaurants and service industries Canada wide incorporated this system into their business.

Paula Tekela launched Q Water (a Canadian designed and assembled product) in March of 2009 and what started as a water filtration system created for the restaurant industry has been rapidly expanding as the company decided to tackle bottled water in as many ways as possible. With the introduction of an environmentally friendly product that eliminates the purchasing, refrigeration and recycling of bottled water, they have set their sights on not only eliminating bottled water in restaurants but in hotels and gyms as well. 

Still or Sparkling, Q Water takes a local approach to water. Their unique four stage filtration system uses a municipal water source.  In addition to protecting the environment they provide a high quality alternative to the international still and sparkling bottled water choices made available to consumers today.  Starting with their first client Spencer’s on the Waterfront in Burlington and growing every day with the most recent addition of Origin Restaurant in Toronto, Q Water produces a taste that has held up in blind taste tests to high profile brands such as San Pellegrino and with no added sodium.

The impact on the use of bottles is being acknowledged as a world wide problem.  Beyond the immediately apparent benefits to reducing a recycling effort there is also the energy used to package and sell bottled water to consider. Energy used to manufacture the bottles; energy being used to produce the labels and, most importantly, the significant energy needed to transport those bottles to a restaurant’s back door. 

Of their product Paula says “With the system itself, we’re trying to be as environmentally friendly and the most energy efficient product in the industry. The water is chilled without using a chiller running 24/7, compared to others. 

Q Water’s parent company Drink To Your Heath Inc, can customize a filtration system to fit all needs whether they be in the office, home, boat or cottage. This Canadian company is constantly coming up with new products to eliminate bottled water to offer a fresher, more sustainable solution.

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