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 bottled water. They are known for making water for other stores to sell under their own names. They also have their own brand called Ice River Green. What's really cool about them is that they have a special factory called Blue Mountain Plastics (BMP). This factory takes old plastic bottles that people put in their recycling bins. It turns them into new bottles for their water.
As of 2020, the company's main office was in Shelburne, Ontario, Canada. Their recycling factory was also in Shelburne. Ice River Springs is owned and managed by the Gott family.
Company Story
Ice River Springs started in 1995 in Feversham, Ontario. It began as a small place that bottled water from a spring. This spring was on land owned by the Gott family. They also had a trout farm there.
By 2017, the company had grown a lot. They had 13 bottling plants in Canada and the United States. Each of these plants used its own water sources. The company also sells special kinds of water. These include water with minerals removed and distilled water. In 2017, Ice River Springs had about 600 employees.
In 2020, the company shared more about its business. They said they were a Canadian family-owned company. They made bottled water for stores and their own Ice River Green brand. Their BMP Recycling factory takes plastic waste from city recycling programs. It then turns this waste into safe plastic for food. This includes making new bottles from 100 percent recycled plastic.
As of July 2020, Ice River Springs had several locations. These included their head office and recycling plant in Shelburne, Ontario. They also had bottling plants in Feversham, Amaranth, and Grafton, Ontario. Other Canadian locations were in Calgary, Alberta; Lachute, Quebec; and Chilliwack, British Columbia. They also had an operation in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, USA.
Trying to Buy Nestlé's Water Business
In July 2020, Ice River Springs planned to get much bigger. They agreed to buy the water bottling business from Nestlé Waters Canada. This deal would have given Ice River Springs control of Nestlé's water sources and bottling plants. These included locations in Aberfoyle and Erin, Ontario, and Hope, British Columbia.
This plan came at a time when Ontario was thinking about new rules. These rules would give cities more power to stop new bottling plants. They would also set limits on taking water from the ground. Nestlé said they had been thinking about selling their water business since late 2019.
Ice River Springs hoped to take over Nestlé's Pure Life brand. They also wanted to take over the ReadyRefresh water delivery service. The deal needed approval from government regulators. This approval was expected by late 2020. Buying Nestlé's business was part of Ice River's goal. They wanted to grow beyond just making water for other stores.
However, the deal did not get approved quickly enough. Because of this, Nestlé canceled the agreement in early September 2020.
Helping the Environment
Ice River Springs cares about the environment. They work to use less energy and recycle plastic. They also try to reduce their carbon footprint. This means lowering the amount of greenhouse gases they release.
In 2011, they opened a special factory. This factory recycles plastic bottles. It makes new bottles from recycled plastic. These new bottles can then be recycled again and again. This is called a "closed loop" system.
In 2014, they launched their Ice River Green brand of bottled water. This brand uses recycled green plastic. This type of plastic might otherwise be used for lower-grade products. Their recycling efforts won an award in 2014.
A report in November 2019 said something important. Ice River Springs uses a lot of the plastic collected in Ontario's recycling programs. They use about 80 to 85 percent of it. They also use some plastic from the northern U.S.
In September 2019, a news report mentioned something else. Much of the Sobeys Compliments brand bottled water comes from Ice River Springs. The company uses its "closed-loop recycling" process. They say this process saves 23 million liters of water each year. This method also creates 78% less greenhouse gas. It saves a lot of energy too. This is 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.
