A D-TAP refillable water bottle.
PHILIPSBURG–D-Bottle wants to drastically tackle the problem of pollution by plastic water bottles by introducing a refill concept in St. Maarten.
Curaçao-based D-Bottle was founded by Lara Melkert and Yvette Kloos who wanted to do something about the large number of single-use plastic water bottles polluting their island. In 2018 they successfully introduced the refillable stainless steel water bottle called “D-Bottle”, short for “Dushi-Bottle”.
For each bottle sold on their website, a bottle is donated to an underprivileged child and for each bottle sold through a reseller, 10 per cent of the revenue is donated to a charity goal. This bottle has been received with great enthusiasm in Curaçao, which inspired the two in their next step.
In June 2019, they introduced the “D-TAP” refill project in Curaçao, which consists of a special D-Bottle which, for a reduced price, can be (re)filled with cold water at different locations on the island, such as hotels, resorts, restaurants and shops, that can be found using an app.
After having introduced this concept successfully in Curaçao, it’s time for St. Maarten now. Later, the concept will be introduced to other islands in the region and in the Netherlands, where already a number of large companies and organisations have shown interest in this concept.
“But we are now focusing on St. Maarten first and, of course, hope that there will be a lot of support coming from the tourist sector and the government to make this project a great success for a cleaner and more beautiful St. Maarten,” says Carolien de Wilde, who will be guiding the introduction of the project here.
“This will be the first concept on St. Maarten to reduce the use of single-use plastic bottles in this way. The aim is to get around 30 refill stations scattered all over the island as soon as possible.”
The refill project focuses on residents and tourists. More than a million tourists visit St. Maarten every year. “If everyone buys an average of one bottle of water, you can imagine what kind of plastic they leave behind, besides all the plastic bottles used by residents. We would like to join forces with the tourist industry and government to promote the D-Tap refill water bottle among the tourists at the moment they arrive in St. Maarten,” says Melkert.
With the purchase of this bottle one can always have (cold) water available. In this stainless steel bottle the water stays cold for up to 24 hours (or warm for up to 12 hours) and the bottle does not cause condensation despite the outside temperature.
The bottle is also economically attractive, as this one-time purchase is functional for water during the entire stay in St. Maarten. For the tourist, there are several beautiful locations to discover, if they have their bottle refilled. When returning, they take a nice memory home in the form of this refillable bottle. This also allows them to continue the environmentally conscious principle by continuing to use the bottle at home.
The intention is to have the D-Bottle and the D-TAP refill water bottle for sale In St. Maarten from December 1, 2019 in hotels, resorts, restaurants and shops.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/92737-d-bottle-wants-to-introduce-refill-water-bottle-concept-in-december
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