By accident I noticed the Move Collective Bobble water bottle in a store. I was directly caught by the cool design, and the fact that a water filter is integrated into the nozzle of the water bottle. However there is a great story of entrepreneurship and environment behind this product !
Bobble Water Bottle – A closer look
I’m using the Bobble water bottle for a few weeks now, and the comments I get are about the fancy design, mainly aimed at the integrated filter in the nozzle. The Move Collective Bobble is the work of a great designer, Karim Rashid.
“Bobble is designed, under exclusive agreement, byu the famous multi award winning designer Karim Rashid.”
The bottle itself has a great (female) curve, which gives it elegant looks. The used plastic is thin, which makes it easy to squeeze the bottle while maintaining the strength (just in case you would accidentally drop the Bobble Water Botttle). The bottle diameter is not a perfect circle, but a little elliptical, which makes it easier squeeze (and drink). The Bobble water bottle is made of recycled plastic:
“Bobble is made from FDA approved recycled PET that is free of BPAm Phthalates and PVC & is 100% recyclable.”
The most eye-catching part is the colorful nozzle, with integrated filter, of the Bobble water bottle. It is a carbon filter, like you might know from outdoor- or hicking activities. The carbon filter cleans the water as you drink.
Therefore you can use the bottle in area’s where you can’t drink clean drinking water from the tap. But also in the Netherlands where you can drink from the tap, it seems like the water taste gets a little more sweet (assuming that the carbon filter has some impact). 🙂
I haven’t tried if you can put the nozzle with integrated filter on a different bottle, for example a 1.5 l soda bottle. This was a question I got from a fellow traveler during my commute from the office to home.
Business case – The entrepreneurial view
I mentioned in the introduction that there is a great business case behind the Bobble water bottle. From a business perspective it is not just the design that matters, but also the hard facts and financial numbers. So let’s do the math:
“Americans alone spend $17 billion every year to slake their thirst for portable water. The cost are not limited to our wallets either. Each year nearly 1.5 million barrels of oil are used to make plastic water bottles. Most of those bottles are casually discarded. They end up in our landfills, in our oceans, littlering our sidewalks.”
I was impressed with the ammount of oil barrels used in the times where predictions are made about running out of fossil fuels. On the other hand there is are complete industry value chains and supply chains build around the production and distribution of bottled water.
“Approximately 38 billion plastic water bottles end up in landfills each year. By using bobble, which is made from recycled materials, we can do all our part to eleminate unnecessary waste. Bobble helps fix the problem by using recycled material to make new bobbles. Botteled water is also a costly addiction. Bobble retails under $10 and can be refilled at least 300 times before changing the filter.”
Again an impressive figure how the environment is affected. The costs are kept relatively low, however $10,- is a lot of money in developing countries. At the office of my employer Earth water bottles are used, which are made of bio-degradable plastics. This could be a next step for Bobble 2.0 !
Overall you can build an strong business case from the number above, and I do hope that some impact can be made.
Overall conclusion and wrap-up
I’m using the Bobble water bottle for a few weeks now. I get a lot of questions when I’m commuting by train about the modern design and the colorful nozzle. I would conclude Karim Rashid did an excellent design job, it looks fresh, modern, minimalistic and clean. 🙂
As a hobby cyclist I’m used to drinking from a water bottle on my road bike, with the difference that these sports water bottles are not fitted with a filter. There is no need for it as well, otherwise the filter would get full of Maxim Electrolyte energy drink.
Over the past weeks it seems to be a very durable product. Just like the Camelbak drinking systems you need to be aware of cleaning the bottle and end cap from time to time.
The filters can be replaced as well, so you don’t need to throw away the bottle itself. I’m not sure if I will be counting the number of refills, however everyone should create some (corporate) social responsibility and save the environment about 299 bottles with the Bobble water bottle. 🙂
