Paget Reed
Organization: Belu Water
Year Founded: 2002
Country: United Kingdom
Website: www.belu.org
IdeasLab Video Belu is the UK’s first bottled water company to become carbon neutral, to use compostable bottles made from corn, to promote PVC-free packaging and to donate all profits to clean water projects. Focus: Environment, Water Geographic Area of Impact: Bangladesh, India, Madagascar, Mali and the United Kingdom Model: Social Business Number of Direct Beneficiaries: 43,429 (2002-2009) Annual Budget: US$ 3.5 million (2009) Percentage Earned Revenue: 100% Recognition: Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum, SEOY 2007 United Kingdom Background The Earth is running out of many natural resources and clean water is one of them. Belu Water was launched to use business to create a sustainable balance between the needs of people and the planet. Its first step was to create the most eco-friendly bottled water. Innovation and Activities Belu seeks to change the way companies operate by implementing a business model that is both financially and environmentally sustainable. Belu has minimized its own environmental impact by using clean electricity and locally sourced water, and reducing waste and light-weighting packaging. It is helping to set a trend for all businesses to take responsibility for their carbon footprint. Belu’s mineral water is the first bottled water in the world to be carbon neutral and the first bottled drinks company in the UK to use “bio-bottles” made from corn rather than petro-chemicals. These look like ordinary plastic bottles but can be recycled with plastics or commercially composted. By demonstrating that eco-friendly bottles are economically viable, Belu is championing a change for a more sustainable approach to consumer goods. As a not-for-profit organization, Belu donates 100% of its profits to fund clean water projects around the world. At a minimum, every bottle of Belu bought in the UK provides clean water for one person for one month. In the UK, Belu is working to clean the River Thames by building a 12-metre long “rubbish-muncher” that will remove nearly one tonne of waste from the river each week. A marine engineering firm has been hired to build this device, which is expected to be completed by early 2010. In the Jaipur district of Rajasthan, India, Belu is involved in rebuilding a 400-year-old dam and creating a rainwater reservoir that will provide water to a community of over 13,800 people. The dam and reservoir should be completed later this year. The Entrepreneur Reed Paget completed his university education in filmmaking in 1992. He has over a decade of experience producing documentaries and news, including working for Time Warner’s New York One news. Reed produced and directed the award-winning documentary film “Amerikan Passport” about US foreign policy and the end of the Cold War. He founded Belu Water in 2002 inspired by the United Nation's Global Compact, which encourages using the tools of business to help solve global problems. The UK government’s Social Enterprise Coalition has since appointed him as Social Enterprise Ambassador. Further honours include the 2007 O2 Inspiration Award, Independent’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 and Edge Upstart Social Enterprise of the Year.
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