You don’t need a ton of scientists to tell you that the weather has gone weird. No one needs to study meteorology to know that it’s strange to be hot in November, or that there shouldn’t be this many hurricanes and tornadoes happening. It’s hard to deny that the world is having serious climate problems. One huge company, however, is going to prove that this isn’t just a fight for the little guys. GROHE, a company that employs thousands, is making huge strides toward combatting the effects of climate change.
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GROHE intends to become one of the first leading sanitary manufacturers to go carbon neutral. All of its production plants and logistics centers in Germany already run on green energy. Meanwhile, the company is working on a hydroelectric power station in India. GROHE is also working on a borehole maintenance project in Malawi.
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GROHE’s mission statement, if you will, is to celebrate the “pure joy of water.” Water is at the heart of everything GROHE does. That’s why the company is so committed to helping the world get access to fresh, clean water all over the world. Its mission is to make sure the people of the world have access to that water without creating even more plastic waste. The company is also a part of LIXIL, a company that creates water and housing projects worldwide.
“With water at the core of our business, it is our responsibility to care for every drop of this precious resource and commit to paving a pathway for clean water worldwide. GROHE’s Less Plastic Initiative will bring us a step closer to this goal,” said Trey Northrup, the leader of LIXIL Americas. “Our belief is that it’s critical to give our planet the utmost care and attention now and into the future.”
The company’s plastic initiative has three parts.
Steps one and two: plastic and water waste
First, GROHE will remove and replace all unnecessary plastic from their packaging. Rather than polystyrene or plastic wrap, GROHE is using molded pulp. That’s the same stuff you find in egg cartons.
The second step on the agenda is the Blue Water System from GROHE. This Chilled & Sparkling 2.0 water system eliminates the need for plastic bottled water. The water that comes from this system is chilled, filtered and, if you want, carbonated. And it comes straight from the tap.
The reason these first two steps are needed is pretty clear. All you have to do is check out some pictures to see that the world’s oceans are full of plastic. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located in the waters between North America and Japan, is so large it has become a landmark.
The garbage patch is so big that no one even knows how much debris makes it up. A lot of the garbage isn’t even on the surface of the water but at the bottom of the ocean. According to Charles Moore, who first discovered the patch in 1997, trying to clean up this huge area would likely “bankrupt any country” that might attempt to take on this problem.
Here’s the scary part: this is just one plastic garbage pile sitting in the world’s oceans. There are actually multiple trash vortices around the world, including patches in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Additionally, there are vortices developing in smaller bodies of water. One is currently forming in the North Sea. If more companies like GROHE don’t begin to make changes, the world’s oceans could conceivably be more full of plastic than water.
According to the EPA, there were 82.2 million tons of plastic thrown away as garbage in 2018. That includes product packaging and, of course, those ubiquitous bottles of water that everyone needs to live.
GROHE has also developed a Sense Water Guard that allows you to monitor how much water you’re using in real time. An app will alert you to sudden changes and tell you if your home has a leak somewhere. This helps keep you from wasting water. You can waste thousands of gallons of water due to leaks in just one month. That means you’ll be wasting money on paying the water bill, too.
Step three in partnership
Furthermore, step three in the plan is a partnership with everwave. This is a non-governmental organization that includes an interdisciplinary team that includes marine biologists, engineers and scientists. They spend their time looking for ways to clean plastic waste before it can get to the ocean.
The brand also honors water as an important part of life with the Smart Control Showering Collection. This product line uses SmartControl technology, developed by GROHE. SmartControl is an app that will help you choose the right outlet, water flow and temperature for your water. Everything stays consistent throughout the duration of your shower, which is energy-saving.
GROHE is an innovator in kitchen and bathroom water solutions. Now, the company is an innovator in preventing additional climate change and serves as an example of how even large companies can do their part to help heal the Earth.
via National Geographic, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Images via GROHE
