For Ice River Springs, sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint are two key elements in the company's corporate strategy.
"We strive every day to reduce our environmental impact," said Ice River Springs Plant Manager Mark Gott. "We aim to innovate and are always looking for new ways to recycle, reduce energy consumption, and minimize waste."
In 2015, Eversource approached the Canadian-based private label bottled water producer to help them better manage their energy use by connecting them with solutions for savings through energy efficiency upgrades at their Pittsfield facility. The two companies took a comprehensive approach to the facility upgrades and conducted several compressed air engineering assessments. As a result, Ice River Springs added a more efficient compressed air system and upgraded its blow-mold equipment for the bottle-making processes.
Ice River Springs has since increased its production by 32 percent while reducing its energy consumption by 25 percent per case of bottles produced.
"Ice River Springs is truly a pioneer in the energy efficiency and sustainability space," said Eversource Vice President of Energy Efficiency Tilak Subrahmanian. "It is always a pleasure to partner with like-minded companies, and we are excited to continue our work with them to cut energy costs, grow efficiently, and contribute to a cleaner and healthier environment."
The energy-saving improvements helped Ice River Springs save almost two million kilowatt-hours and nearly a quarter-million dollars annually.
"For our retail customers, we run a vertically integrated operation and work to minimize our costs so that we can deliver high quality bottled water at a great value," said Gott. "The Eversource team was such a resource to us. We examined every option with them to reduce energy consumption, as well as natural gas and propane use to get the most savings."
Ice River Springs is the only beverage company in North American with a closed loop recycling facility where it recycles millions of pounds of plastic each year and produces 100 percent recycled content bottles. All of the company's bottling facilities have achieved zero-waste-to-landfill through employee engagement and working with the local communities. The company will also soon launch a new two-megawatt rooftop solar system at its Pittsfield facility.
"We invest in reducing our environmental impact through carbon reduction, paper reduction, waste reduction, healthy living and so much more," said Ice River Springs Sustainability Manager Crystal Howe. "I tell my colleagues that sustainability is the cake, it is our foundation. The cost savings, the jobs and growth, the customer engagement and the opening of new doors - that's the icing on the cake that comes with sustainability."
Eversource will be working with Ice River Springs on future energy-saving improvements, including LED lighting and controls, and newly approved initiatives to reduce peak demand-related charges.
"We want to be the most environmentally friendly bottling company in North America," said Howe. "As we grow this culture, we have found that the most impactful way to reduce our carbon footprint is through energy savings, and Eversource has been a tremendous resource for this."
For more information about Eversource's energy efficiency programs and green building design solutions, visit www.eversource.com or Mass Save's business industry solutions page.
About Ice River Springs
Ice River Springs is a family owned, North American bottled water company with 13 bottling plants and a PET recycling facility. A leader in private label bottling, Ice River is the only beverage company in NA to self-manufacture RPET resin and produce bottled water with 100% recycled plastic in a closed loop system. All 13 bottling plants are zero waste to landfill through the initiatives of 600 team members. Winner of the 2017 Global Bottled Water Award for "Best Packaging Solution". For more information, please visit our website www.iceriversprings.com.
About Eversource
Eversource (NYSE: ES) transmits and delivers electricity, natural gas and water to 1.7 million customers throughout Massachusetts. This includes approximately 1.4 million electric customers in 140 communities, 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities, and 19,500 water customers in five communities. Recognized as the top U.S. utility for its energy efficiency programs by the sustainability advocacy organization Ceres, Eversource harnesses the commitment of its more than 8,300 employees across three states to build a single, united company around the mission of safely delivering reliable energy and water with superior customer service. For more information, please visit our website (www.eversource.com) and follow us on Twitter (@eversourceMA) and Facebook (facebook.com/EversourceMA). For more information on our water services, visit www.aquarionwater.com.
Media Contact:
Priscilla Ress
413-787-1055
priscilla.ress@eversource.com
