The beloved home makeover show partners with PATHWATER, the company that’s giving the bottled water industry a reusability makeover
Everyone is screaming, “Move that Bus” again. After seven long years, Extreme Home Makeover fans get their wish for a new season, and this one is filled with a mission to serve our everyday heroes. The heartwarming show is changing the lives of unsuspecting, selfless, and hard-working families who’ve never experienced such monumental support in their lives. PATHWATER is thrilled to help the show’s comeback by implementing sustainable hydration for the on-site film and construction crews. How do you ask? By supplying teams with purified water in reusable, aluminum bottles and installing refill stations that keep everyone fully hydrated.
The PATHWATER partnership with Extreme Home Makeover has resulted in the elimination of at least 33,600 single-use plastic water bottles. The amount of plastic eliminated is based on a 1:1 scenario, replacing one single-use plastic bottle with one aluminum, reusable bottle.
However, the average PATHWATER drinker refills their bottle 10+ times, so this estimation is on the extreme low end. Those 33,600 reusable bottles represent the potential to keep as many as 5.2 million single-use plastic bottles from entering the waste stream if every bottle were to be adopted by a person for at least one year. Yet, even when underestimating, the PATHWATER switch from single-use plastic bottles is a huge win for the planet. It’s a great example of how any television show can demonstrate eco-leadership by easily implementing a replacement for plastic bottled water with PATHWATER.
PATHWATER is instantly becoming the go-to solution for major film crews that are aiming for simple, affordable sustainability shifts. PATHWATER is intentionally reusable and is purposely made from recycled aluminum because it is one of the most recycled and valuable materials in the world. In a Life Cycle Assessment showdown with single-use plastic bottled water, you can see why PATHWATER bottles are the carbon positive go-to. The bottle becomes carbon neutral after three reuses and carbon positive after 4+ reuses, while the average PATHWATER bottle is reused 10+ times.
Helping people, helping the planet
Co-founder of PATHWATER, Ali Orabi got his entrepreneurial start in keeping homes safe by founding two security alarm companies, in the Central Valley. So when the opportunity for partnership came about with one of his favorite shows, Extreme Home Makeover, the PATHWATER co-founder was thrilled.
"Helping people and the planet are two of my biggest missions in life. My dedication to these baseline purposes led me to PATHWATER. And now, it has led PATHWATER to a partnership with Extreme Home Makeover. The show's mission to give back and take care of people through their community, aligns with our planetary need to get on a better path to clean up our planet, together."
There are so many circumstances that can leave any family needing more help than they're comfortable asking for. Oftentimes, communities don't have the resources necessary to help their neighbors, friends, and families the way they'd like to. That's where Extreme Home Makeover comes in and provides the resources, organization, ideas, labor, and motivation needed to get inspiring families an extreme helping hand.
Natural disasters and other unforeseen situations can leave anyone feeling desperate and well, in need. And sometimes, when companies provide aid, the ecological footprint left behind can be unintentionally toxic and overwhelming to the environment. One of these examples is plastic bottled water. With more than 1,000 volunteers, large film crew, carpenters, and landscapers that all need to be hydrated, the carbon footprint and subsequent plastic waste can get out of hand when using single-use plastic bottled water. This is why Extreme Home Makeover partnered with PATHWATER, to minimize that environmental impact.
TV production efforts toward sustainability
PATHWATER was built on the idea that sustainability must be accessible, and this is why PATHWATER provides purified water in a reusable canteen-style bottle that’s affordable for anyone to adopt. Producers Endemol Shine North America, host Jesse Tyler Ferguson, designers Breegan Jane, Darren Keefe, and Carrie Locklyn, give so much, and now they’re able to give even more to the planet and the people they’re helping by keeping plastic bottled water from entering our environment.
Film and television production companies are starting to implement sustainability initiatives, and even the Producers Guild of America is leading the path in greening up major productions. PGA Green has released a study proving that if television shows replace single-use plastic bottled water with reusable water bottles and add refill stations on set, the production will minimize their impact on climate change and also decrease their water budget by 51%. These benefits can be tacked on to the additional benefits of preventing plastic bottles from entering our landfills, the ocean, and incinerators, as plastic is burned 6X more than it is recycled in the U.S. The incineration of plastic, of course, releases toxic fumes into our air and contributes to respiratory and health issues. Here are some additional plastic facts that production crews have taken into consideration when eliminating plastic.
- The average American consumes 156 plastic bottles of water per year
- 5.25 TRILLION pieces of plastic are floating at the surface of the ocean
- 90% of plastic does not get recycled
- Only 10 states in the U.S. have recycling programs
- 1,500 plastic bottles end up as waste in landfills or thrown in the ocean every second
- By 2050 the plastic industry may account for 20% of the world’s total oil consumption
- Nearly 50% of the plastic waste generated globally in 2015 was plastic packaging
- The world produces more than 400 million tons of plastics every year
- 79% of the plastic waste ever produced now sits in landfills, dumps or in the environment
- Only 9% of plastic has been “recycled” but it is really downcycled into inferior products that eventually end up in landfills and as microplastics floating in the ocean
- By 2050, an estimated 99% of seabirds will have ingested plastic
- Marine litter harms over 600 marine species
- By 2050, there is expected to be more plastic in the ocean than fish, by weight
The Los Angeles Times wrote an article based on the Producers Guild of America (PGA) Green Report, proving how much pollution comes from the plastic bottle industry, and how much movie and television shows will save economically and environmentally by just switching from single-use plastic bottled water to reusable bottles and refill stations. PGA Green reported that the average cost of bottled water for a 60-day shoot is roughly $11,175 ($186.25/day), and this cost could decrease to $5,489 ($91.49/day) by just investing in reusable bottles and refill stations. The switch is necessary because 86% of plastic water bottles are being thrown away, and less than one in six plastic bottles get recycled. Not to mention, plastic doesn’t get recycled; it gets downcycled, which means it inevitably ends up in our landfills and oceans. Sea animals are ingesting microplastics and nanoplastics at alarming rates because plastic is never broken down, it only gets smaller and smaller. Plastic is so invasive it is found in the salt we eat, the fish we eat, and in the soil that our fruits and vegetables grow in. In fact, the average person unintentionally eats so much plastic, it’s enough to make one credit card every week, equating to 5 grams of microplastics.
According to Film LA, there were 690 reality TV shoot days in Q1 (January to March) of 2019, and 737 shoot days in Q2 (April to June) within the city of Los Angeles, totaling 1,427 total shoot days for the first half of the year. If it costs $186.25/day to hydrate workers, the total for purchasing single-use plastic bottled water would be $265,779 versus going with refill stations and reusable bottles, which is estimated at $130,542. The cost savings for film crews are great, but the biggest win is the elimination of plastic waste.
Extreme Home Makeover's simple move to PATHWATER is a huge contribution to helping the plastic crisis; the shift serves as a template for all television and film production crews addressing sustainability. While there are many bottled water brands releasing glass and single-use aluminum canned water, which is an outstanding elevation from plastic, PATHWATER takes bottled water to a whole new level by introducing reusability. “Keeping people well-hydrated on production sets like Extreme Home Makeover is extremely important, especially during the long hours of building, landscaping, and filming. We’re thrilled to offer bottled water where the bottle is ultimately reusable and can be easily coupled with onset water refill stations. This is a massive win for everyone and the planet. We believe this is just the start to seeing more ecoLOGICAL decision making in entertainment. The entire team at PATHWATER is excited about the partnership with Extreme Home Makeover and looks forward to supporting the dual mission of improving lives while lowering our plastic footprint,” explains Shadi Bakour, PATHWATER’s CEO.
Partnerships to improve sustainability
Extreme Home Makeover also partnered with De Young Properties, a family-owned company that builds eco-friendly homes that are energy efficient, use low water landscaping, solar panels, and zero net electricity. These conscientious homes deliver a win-win for homeowners and the planet.
"Giving this big takes a collaborative effort, and the same goes for the mission of achieving sustainability. It takes a collaboration to spread a message and get everyone used to something as simple as reusing a water bottle. Our hybrid bottle helps deliver the message that reusability is achievable and convenient. It's the one true switch from clear petroleum-based bottles that are polluting our planet to sturdy aluminum bottles that can be reused over and over. It's all about value and delivering that value back to customers, instead of producing more plastic that is polluting the planet and making us sick," says Orabi of PATHWATER.
Helping people and making positive changes is what ties the partnership between PATHWATER and Extreme Home Makeover, "I'm honored to roll up my sleeves and relive the magic of the most positive, life-changing show I've ever been a part of," said Ty Pennington in a recent press release, "I'm passionate about design and making positive change in people's lives. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition shows you what amazing things can happen when people work together."
The team at PATHWATER is working together through many partnerships to give the bottled water industry a complete makeover and shift the concept of bottled water from plastic profits to hydration for people and the planet. A cast, crew, and volunteer force as big as Extreme Home Makeover, shows us just how great an impact one simple shift can make.
"While plastic beverage bottles are recyclable, they more often end up in landfills or as roadside or ocean litter. Most plastic beverage bottles are also manufactured overseas and require fossil fuels to ship..." says Emellie O'Brien, the author of the PGA Green report Going Green & Saving Green.
Conclusion
Extreme Home Makeover is leading the pack for on-site filming sustainability by replacing plastic bottled water with reusable PATHWATER bottles and refill stations on sets and build sites. The plastic shift has been proven to cut film crew water costs in half and eliminate plastic entering our waste stream. The feel-good show is helping yet another hero, our planet earth, by offering 33,600 reusable PATHWATER bottles that happen to come with purified water in them, and are designed to be reused. It’s our hope for the reboot of Extreme Home Makeover that we can help people reboot their thinking of bottled water. Instead of associating a water bottle with waste and something to be thrown away or recycled, what if bottled water came in a container that can be reused many times over, like PATHWATER.
We’re on a path to makeover the bottled water industry and are inviting everyone in the world to join the revolution!
Resources:
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-onlocation-20140731-story.html
https://www.greenproductionguide.com/resources/faq/
https://www.greenproductionguide.com/resources/sustainability-reports/
https://www.greenproductionguide.com/greener-film-shoots-can-also-save-costs-report-says/
https://www.filmla.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019_Q2_Local_production_days.pdf
http://www.greenisuniversal.com/learn/about-us/facilities/
https://www.greenproductionguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/pga_green-1.pdf