ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Balance recently introduced its new biodegradable and recycle bottle. Made with an organic additive, the bottle breaks down in a landfill into harmless remnants in less than 5 years. Importantly this bottle is still 100% recyclable through regular streetside recycling collection programs. This is unlike other degradable bottles that leave metal or toxic remnants or corn starch bottles that can't be recycled through conventional recycling plants.

The plastic in the Balance bottle contains a small amount of organic additive. This additive is mixed, much like a colorant during the bottle making process. It is entirely harmless and food and beverage safe. In a compost or landfill environment this additive attract micro-organisms which secrete a lysing agent or enzyme. This causes the additive to swell and degrade the plastic while at the same time continuing to act as a food substrate for the anaerobic organisms that typically exist in landfills. In ideal conditions the bottle will break down into organic biomass in as little as 250 days (under lab simulation) and typically less than 5yrs. The nature and amount of additive is such that it does not interfere with PET street side recycling programs.

Long before companies began implementing environmental policies, the founders of Balance were advocates of eco-friendly practices. Today, as our brand grows globally, we are further committed to those beliefs. Therefore, Balance does not ship containers of finished product around the world. Unlike many French, Italian, Fijian, Norwegian or even Icelandic companies that ship their products long distances, Balance is able to minimize its carbon footprint by producing and packaging locally.

In the U.S., all of our bottles, labels, caps, labor and pristine spring water are locally sourced. The only imported ingredients are the handpicked Australian Flower Essences, which are imported in small, highly concentrated amounts. Balance ships our product the shortest possible distances–we have regional distribution centers and operations on both coasts to avoid long distance trucking.

We congratulate David de Rothschild and his crew on Plastiki (www.plastiki.com) for their great achievement of sailing from San Francisco to Sydney to raise awareness and inspire others around the world to become more sustainable in their use of plastics.