Your START Bottle’s Journey
Aluminium is found in everything from jet engines to the water bottle you just scanned. Producing responsible aluminium products is key to a net zero future. But how do you know if the material in your hand was produced responsibly? Created with blockchain technology, START enables traceability and transparency throughout the production process so you can see how your products, like this bottle, was made responsibly.
Mine
Brazil and Guinea
Rio Tinto mines bauxite and refines it into alumina.
A new solar plant and battery storage facility at Rio Tinto’s bauxite mine will reduce the carbon emissions equivalent of 3,750+ cars.
Refine & Smelt
Canada
Alumina is processed into molten aluminium and cast into different shapes. In this case, into aluminium slab. Smelters traditionally require a lot of energy but by using hydropower at Rio Tinto’s Atlantic smelters, carbon emissions are 71% less than the global average1.
That amount of carbon emissions abated alone can power 1M smartphones.
Roll
United States
Rio Tinto sends the slabs to customers where they are smoothed to achieve a mirror-like shine. Then, they are rolled into thin sheets and sent to packaging manufacturers, such as Liberty, the maker of your water bottle.
6% of global aluminium is used in consumer goods, including bottles and foils. By using aluminium, these products become infinitely recyclable.2
Bottle Shaping
United States
The aluminium coils are cut into circular discs, then punched to create cylinders. They are further cut into bottle necks and fitted onto the lids. At each stage of the process, excess metal is collected, processed, and recycled into new rolls of aluminium.
Water is filtered and reused 3 times, reducing consumption by two-thirds with 99.9% of the aluminium scrap recycled.
Bottle Finishing
United States
The bottles are covered with food grade coating to prevent contamination and bacteria build up. An environmentally-friendly, gel-based ink is used to develop custom prints.
The best part? The bottles and lids are fully recyclable and BPA/BPS free.
You
Anywhere and Everywhere
Now, it’s your turn. Think of the production steps you see here as a blockchain. Each block in the START blockchain is a secure source of data about where your product came from and how it is was sustainably produced. START your own sustainability journey by supporting this revolutionary technology. Share how you use this bottle on LinkedIn: #STARTbottle
By using a reusable bottle like ours, you could prevent an average of 156 plastic bottles from entering the Earth’s waste stream annually.3
1 Global average 11.86, Rio Tinto 3.4, difference = 8.46metric tonnes: calculated using Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator | US EPA
2 Aluminium Facts https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/minerals-metals-facts/aluminum-facts/20510
3 Beyond Plastics https://www.beyondplastics.org/fact-sheets/plastic-water-bottles