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Evian®, An International Brand Building Its Future:
A Carbon-Neutral Bottling Site And A Unique New Experience For Visitors

An industrial flagship to support evian®’s constant innovation and its commitments to sustainability.

Published 7 years ago | About a 6 minute read

An industrial flagship to support evian®’s constant innovation and its commitments to sustainability.

€280 million investment between 2011 and 2020 to complete the transformation of the site;
Inauguration of the largest food production site in France to achieve carbon neutral status;
An upgraded bottling facility that is 100% powered by renewable energy;
The first evian® brand visitors’ gallery open to the public.

Evian-les-Bains, 12 September, 2017 – Today, evian®, the world leader in natural mineral water, is turning a new page in its history. After six years of construction and transformation, the evian® international brand, sold in more than 140 countries, is unveiling a state-of-the-art production facility, fully upgraded and perfectly integrated into its environment.

This transformed site is designed to support evian®’s future growth and innovations which are at the heart of the brand’s strategy while ensuring the achievement of its commitments to sustainability.
It combines greater operational efficiency, new technology, the highest quality processes and a profound sense of respect for employees and their workplace, with a particular focus on safety. The site is also carbon neutral, marking a milestone in the brand’s commitment to achieve global carbon neutral status by 2020.

This project is one of exceptional scale and Franck Riboud, Chairman of Danone’s Board of Directors and Emmanuel Faber, Danone’s Chief Executive Officer were present today to officially inaugurate it.

A bottling site that embodies the commitments of a sustainable international brand

To modernise its unique bottling site, evian® will invest €280 million by 2020 in a facility producing all evian® bottles sold worldwide. Meeting the highest global quality standards, this more sustainable and more efficient site is a new illustration of the brand’s commitment to sustainability.

evian®‘s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint has led to a number of positive initiatives at the bottling site. Between 2008 and 2016, the brand reduced its total industrial energy consumption by 23% per litre of evian® while increasing the total volume of bottles produced to meet rising consumer demand. Today, the bottling site is 100% powered by renewable energy. This is part of a worldwide carbon reduction plan which is helping achieve evian®’s global ambition to be carbon neutral by 2020.

As part of that same journey, evian® aims to use 100% recycled materials in its packaging, and is on an ambitious journey to achieve this. By the end of 2017, evian® will use an average of 25% of rPET (recycled plastic), three years ahead of the schedule set out at COP21 (the UN conference on climate change held in Paris in 2015) with the objective to reach 50% for some formats by 2020. Research and innovation teams are dedicated to achieving this target, while maintaining the focus on quality that has driven evian®‘s success from the start.

evian® is also expanding its use of more eco-friendly multimodal transportation, with a particular focus on rail freight, with a carbon footprint one-tenth that of road transport. Currently 60% of evian® bottles are shipped by train from a station at the bottling site—one of the largest private railway stations in France—and that figure is expected to rise in the coming years.

Preserving the water resource and the environment together with local communities

To be at Evian-les-Bains is to be at the heart of the brand. Indeed, evian® natural mineral water draws all its properties from its unique water source. It is here, on the plateau of Gavot, at the heart of the French Alps, that for nearly 150 years, all stakeholders have worked together to build evian®’s heritage with a pioneering spirit. evian® water originates from rain and snow deposited on the catchment area, a millennia-old site surrounded by mountains. The water then filters down on a 15-year journey through rocks, taking on its unique mineral composition, until it reaches the underground source. evian® water truly is a product of nature. The quality and purity of the evian® water that future generations will drink relies on the positive initiatives taken by the evian® teams and local communities today. It is this protection that ensures evian®’s constant mineral composition and taste, unchanged over a century and a half.

For over 25 years, the brand has worked in with the local ecosystem in a spirit of co-creation to innovate and preserve the water resource and promote its vision of a sustainable industrial operation. In 1992, evian® co-founded the Association for the Protection of the evian® Mineral Water Impluvium (known as APIEME) together with 13 municipalities around the catchment area. This private-public partnership aims to balance preservation of the evian® natural mineral water resource and sustanaible local development of agriculture within the catchment area. APIEME’s latest initiative was the 2016 roll-out of the Terragr’Eau methanizer, which converts 40,000 tons of organic waste each year into natural fertilizer used by local farmers, while producing biogas to provide power for 1,200 inhabitants—equal to the annual gas consumption of evian®'s bottling site. Terragr’Eau is one of the projects that the Danone Ecosystem Fund[1] has supported in an effort to consolidate and develop the business activity of local stakeholders cooperating with Danone.

More than a product, evian® is a modern, forward-looking brand and today its bottling site is an integral part of this.

Key facts and figures:

A strong growing international brand:
- Worldwide leader of natural mineral water
- Sold in more than 140 countries
- Strong global net sales growth 2016: ≈ +8% (in value)
- Contribution from innovations to global net sales growth 2016: > +10% (in value)
- Brand perceived as the most iconic brand for a healthy living in key European markets (source: Tracking GFK 2015)
A high-end industrial site:
- A totally modernised site of 130,000 square meters, the equivalent of 13 football fields
- €280 million invested between 2011 and 2020
- 10 new linear production lines more agile and efficient for multi-format production, the fastest of which produces 72,000 bottles per hour
- 100% of evian® bottles fully recyclable
- Increasing recycled plastic (rPET) content in bottles across the range: 25% by the end of 2017, 50% on some formats by 2020 with the goal to reach 100% recycled materials
- Bottling site quality certifications: ISO 9001, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000
- One of the largest private railway stations in France: 13km of rails, departures every 4 hours
- 60% of the site’s production shipped by train with a focus on expanding the use of more eco-friendly multimodal transportation.
evian® bottling site committed to sustainability initiatives:
- First Danone production facility and largest food production site in France to achieve carbon neutral status, independently certified by the Carbon Trust
- 100% powered by renewable energy
- 23% reduction in the industrial energy consumption per litre of evian® between 2008 and 2016
- 100% waste recovery: 92% recycled, 8% converted to energy
- Bottling site environmental certifications: ISO 50001 and ISO 14001 for best practice energy and environmental management systems
A key economic local player:
- 1,200 employees
- 200 new jobs created by this site transformation since 2011
- Terragr’eau methanizer: 40,000 tons of organic waste converted into biogas enough to power 1,200 inhabitants.