Ice River Springs facts for kids
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| Industry | Beverage |
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| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters |
Shelburne, Ontario
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| Products | Bottled water, Ice River Green |
Ice River Springs is a company that makes and sells bottled water. They create water bottles for many different stores and restaurants. They also make their own brand of water called Ice River Green.
What makes them special is their own plastic recycling factory. This factory takes plastic bottles from recycling programs. It turns them into new, safe plastic for their water bottles. This helps the environment by reusing plastic.
The company started in 1995 and is owned by the Gott family. Its main office is in Shelburne, Ontario, Canada. They have locations across Canada and in Florida, USA.
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How Ice River Springs Started
Ice River Springs began in 1995 in a place called Feversham. It started as a small bottling plant near a natural spring. This spring was on land owned by the Gott family, who also had a trout farm there.
By 2017, the company had grown a lot. They had 13 bottling plants in Canada and the U.S. Each of these plants used its own water source. The company also sells special kinds of water, like demineralized and distilled water. In 2017, about 600 people worked for Ice River Springs.
In 2020, the company shared more about what they do. They are a Canadian family business. They make bottled water for stores and also produce their own Ice River Green brand. They also run a recycling factory called BMP Recycling. This factory takes plastic waste from recycling bins. It turns this waste into new, safe plastic. This new plastic is then used to make their bottles, which are 100 percent recycled.
Where Ice River Springs Operates
As of 2020, Ice River Springs had several locations. Their main office and BMP Recycling plant are in Shelburne, Ontario. They also have bottling plants in:
- Feversham, Ontario
- Amaranth, Ontario
- Grafton, Ontario
- Calgary, Alberta
- Lachute, Quebec
- Chilliwack, British Columbia
They also have a U.S. operation in Hialeah Gardens, Florida.
Plans to Buy Nestlé's Water Business
In 2020, Ice River Springs had a big plan. They wanted to buy the water bottling business from Nestlé Waters Canada. This deal would have given Ice River Springs more water sources and bottling plants. These included locations in Aberfoyle, Hope, and Erin.
This plan was part of Ice River Springs' goal to grow their business. They wanted to sell more than just their private label water. However, the deal needed approval from government rules. This approval did not happen in time. So, Nestlé decided to cancel the deal in September 2020.
Helping the Environment
Ice River Springs is very focused on protecting the environment. They work hard to use less energy. They also recycle a lot of plastic and try to reduce their carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases released by an action or organization.
In 2011, they opened their own PET bottle recycling plant. PET is a type of plastic used for bottles. This plant makes new bottles from recycled plastic. This process is called a "closed loop" system. It means the plastic can be recycled over and over again.
In 2014, they launched their Ice River Green water brand. This brand uses green, recycled PET plastic. This plastic might otherwise be thrown away or used for lower-quality items. Their recycling efforts won an award in 2014.
A report in 2019 said that Ice River Springs uses a lot of the PET plastic collected in Ontario. They also use some from the northern U.S. Their "closed-loop recycling" process helps save a lot of water. It also produces much less greenhouse gas. Plus, it saves a lot of energy compared to making new plastic bottles from scratch.
In 2019, their Blue Mountain Plastics factory used 29,000 tonnes of plastic. This plastic came from city recycling programs.
