Jakarta. Bottled-water brand Aqua is celebrating its 49th anniversary this year by commiting to provide consumers with healthy hydration and to run a sustainable business, according to a recent press statement.

Aqua’s journey started in 1973 when its founder Tirto Utomo saw Indonesians’ need for safe and healthy drinking water. 

“Aqua seeks to provide a quality and healthy product for Indonesians. At the time, not many realized the importance of drinking quality water. This is why Aqua exists and remains committed for Indonesia,” Aqua founder’s wife Lisa Tirto Utomo said.

Aqua, which is now part of Danone Indonesia, pledged to become a socially and environmentally responsible company.

Lisa noted Tirto Utomo’s commitment to sustainable business. She added that Aqua had always upheld the principle that business must be in line with social and environmental sustainability.

According to Danone Indonesia chief executive officer Connie Ang, Danone-Aqua practices a balanced, profitable, sustainable business growth model to create long-term values for its stakeholders.

“This commitment aligns with Danone’s global vision, namely ‘One Planet, One Health’, in which we believe how health and environmental sustainability are interrelated,” Connie said.

Danone-Aqua’s sustainability efforts involve collaboration and focus on three areas, namely water circularity, climate change mitigation, and post-consumer waste management. 

On water circularity, Danone-Aqua has planted more than 2.5 million trees, installed over 1,900 infiltration wells and more than 81,000 biopore holes. The company has also built rainwater harvesting facilities and developed 19 biodiversity programs, be it within or outside its factories. 

Danone-Aqua is also making efforts to slash carbon footprint via the use of renewable energy, in a bid to mitigate climate change. This embodies Danone-Aqua’s pledge to become a zero emission or carbon neutral across its supply chain by 2050. As well as its commitment to generate 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. 

The company reported that it had succeeded in reducing its greenhouse gas emission by 157,597 tons of CO2 between 2019-2020.

On post-consumer waste management, Danone-Aqua had launched the #BijakBerplastik (‘Plastic Wise’) campaign back in 2018, in which the company sought to recover more plastics than it used by 2025. It aims to make all plastic packaging 100 percent recyclable, and increase recyclable content to 50 percent by the same year. 

Danone-Aqua said that it had collected over 13,000 tons of plastic annually via six recycling business units across the archipelago, waste banks, and integrated waste management sites.

The company has also rolled out initiatives to empower local communities. 

As of now, over 318 hectares of land has been converted into environmentally sustainable agriculture to increase people’s income, while also maintaining the water quality and quantity. 

The Aqua Home Service (AHS) program has empowered more than more than 8,000 housewives and families in Indonesia. The company's Damping initiative has also supported over 500 small and medium enterprises.

“We continue to hold on to the principle of providing the highest quality products and services for all of our consumers in Indonesia,” Connie said, while adding that the products had gone through more than 400 quality parameters.