Liquibox awarded for bag-in-box water cooler refill alternative to rigid bottles

Liquibox received a silver award from the Flexible Packaging Association for Waterspout, a specialized bag-in-box refill system for home and office water coolers. This is the company’s eighth win since first entering the annual Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards competition in 2014.

Liquibox has introduced Waterspout to Home and Office Delivery (HOD) brands as a more sustainable alternative to rigid bottles. Greg Gard, VP of R&D at Liquibox, expects Waterspout to disrupt the water delivery market. “Now sustainability is part of the HOD value proposition,” he said. “Consumers making a healthy lifestyle choice to drink water can feel good about how it’s packaged.”

Gard’s team designed Waterspout to overcome the shortfalls of rigid bottles. Easy-grip handles offer better ergonomics. Instead of empty bottle pileups, the Waterspout system features outer cardboard that can be branded for marketing during the life of the package and recycled after use. Patent-pending Liquibox bags protect the integrity and taste profile of the water. Connection to the cooler is more sterile.

“Waterspout makes life easier, safer and more pleasant for water drinkers. HOD brands can give customers the satisfaction that comes from a better user experience, along with gold-standard taste and quality.”

— Greg Gard, Senior Vice President of R&D, Liquibox

The concept stemmed from the Liquibox R&D team’s awareness of the struggle of distributed water systems around the world to keep up with demands of growth and aging. They believe the Waterspout flexible packaging innovation offers a groundbreaking solution for consumers interested in safe water packaged in bulk – and for HOD brands wanting to sell bulk water through e-commerce and retail channels.

Gard points out the business benefits to HOD brands of a more compact and earth-friendly footprint.  “Waterspout reduces warehouse space and number of trucks on the road. As a one-way package, there’s no longer the need to transport, clean and store empties. More customer loyalty, greater sustainability and bottom-line savings are a winning combination.”

Waterspout won in the category of expanding the use of flexible packaging and will be among the 30 winning entries across categories on display this week during the 2020 FPA Annual Meeting in Bonita Springs, Florida. More on Waterspout at https://www.liquibox.com/bestof2019/waterspout/.