Sponsorship saves thousands of plastic bottles from landfills while supporting cancer research
Primo® Water, a leading provider of water dispensers and multi-gallon purified bottled water, will save thousands of single-serve plastic bottles as the official water sponsor of the 2018 Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). Primo Water is providing all of the water over the two-day, 192-mile bike-a-thon through Massachusetts on August 4-5.
“We’re sending 2,600 five-gallon bottles of water to the event. If all the water is used, it will prevent the use of nearly 139,000 single-serve plastic bottles,” said Primo Water President & CEO, Matt Sheehan, a Massachusetts native and PMC participant for the past 18 years. “I believe strongly in PMC’s goal of supporting cancer research but also to eliminate the waste that single-serve plastic causes. Cycling is an environmentally friendly sport but cycling events can produce large amounts of plastic waste. That’s an opportunity for Primo Water to step in.”
Primo Water will be dispensed using one of Primo’s many innovative water dispensers pre-ride, post-ride and at all the water stations along the route. In addition, the electrolyte drinks will be made with purified, great-tasting Primo water.
Billy Starr, PMC founder and executive director, said, “With 6,300 riders, you can imagine how many plastic bottles we go through. Primo Water is helping us set an example for Massachusetts as change initiators when it comes to plastic use and recycling.”
Each five-gallon Primo water bottle saves 1,100 single-serve plastic bottles over its lifetime. Plastic use is at an all-time high across the globe and by 2020, it is estimated that over half a trillion plastic bottles will be sold. Plastic bottles take nearly 450 years to decompose and often end up in oceans or landfills as only nine percent of all plastic in the United States is actually recycled.
Currently, nearly one-third of the state of Massachusetts has placed regulations on single-use plastic shopping bags. Primo is helping the state take this a step further by reusing all of the empty Primo bottles used at the PMC event. The empty bottles are returned and to go through a thorough sanitation process before reuse. This is a significant environmental impact for the New England region and specifically Massachusetts.
Primo Water’s environmental commitment is not confined to the PMC. Their entire company mission is focused on inspiring healthy lives thru better water, while also helping to reduce plastic waste. Sheehan said, “I am so proud of PMC’s fundraising efforts for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the combination of Primo Water and PMC can have a measurable environmental impact.
