COLOMBIAN COMPANY SIEMBRA BETS ON MINERAL WATER IN CANS

This is what the new Siembra brand canned water container looks like. This year, the Colombian mineral water company Siembra changed its plastic containers for cans. In this way, the mineral water company proposes that water be sold in cans to replace plastic bottles in the country. A measure that, according to the same company, should also be applied by its competitors.

The company recently made a significant investment of close to 150 million pesos in infrastructure in order to seek new sustainable packaging alternatives to reduce the sale of water in plastic bottles. Thus, they became the first water brand in the country to go to market with a can presentation.

Siembra is a natural mineral water company that started in 2017 with the purpose of becoming an important resource vehicle for reforestation projects. His initial idea was to “borrow” water from the páramo in order to provide it with trees. To date, the company has planted close to 19,500 trees, with a 60% survival rate.

Siembra is a company that seeks to lead change by example. So says Felipe Mejía, general manager and co-founder of Agua Siembra, who adds that “as our name says, what we are dedicated to is planting. We plant native trees in the páramos of Colombia to preserve an ecosystem that is at risk on a daily basis. Our team is young, determined and dreamy. We dream big and we have managed to materialize each of the projects we have proposed”.

“We are aware that our industry is one of the largest waste generators in the world: 46% of the planet’s waste is generated by food and beverage production. The vast majority of it is plastic and this is making our planet sick. Millions of bottles are produced every day and in the end plastic recycling strategies are not working. This is a problem we have to solve as a society,” said Mejía. 

According to company data, 76% of all aluminum produced is still in circulation, because the material is infinitely recyclable. Moreover, the cans are made with an average of 70% recycled material, for this reason, the company is aware that, from Siembra, the can is the best substitute for plastic at this time.

Other global brands such as Open Water, CanO Water and Liquid Death have made this change, discarding plastic bottles in their packaging process. In Latin America, recycled aluminum in Brazil and Mexico occupies a percentage of 90% and they expect to reach these figures in Colombia.