When Andrew Eversden looked around at his teammates during a professional field hockey tour, he saw a problem that extended far beyond the sports pitch. “We were drinking a lot of water from single use bottles and then disposing of them within minutes after using them,” recalls Andrew Eversden, co-founder of Bottle Up. “And then I thought, why are we not combining the reusable bottle with a bottle of water?”
That question would ultimately lead to the founding of Bottle Up — a provider of reusable, plant-based, BPA-free bottles pre-filled with pure spring water sourced in the UK. What began as a simple idea to merge convenience with conscience has become a fast-growing brand at the heart of the hospitality industry’s drive to reduce plastic waste.
From the pitch to the product
Eversden’s journey to sustainability wasn’t a straight line. “I have a bit of a varied background,” he explains. “I have English parents, but I live over in the Netherlands… I have a media background, studied media and entertainment management, worked in media for a while for a few very interesting publishing companies. I also played professional field hockey for just over 12 seasons.”
His dual life — part media professional, part athlete — gave him a unique vantage point on consumer behaviour and environmental waste. “Being an athlete, you drink a lot of water. We all have reusable bottles for during the training sessions and games. But we also travelled quite a lot,” he says. “We would come to locations where we would not have a bottle of water with us due to security checks or airports where you can’t take your bottle of water through with you.”
It was in those moments of forced convenience — buying disposable bottles out of necessity — that inspiration struck. “That’s really where I combined the two,” says Eversden. “So combining the bottled water or a can of water or a tetra pack of water with a reusable bottle.”
He wasn’t alone in bringing the concept to life. “I don’t do it by myself. I have two business partners, luckily, as well. So it’s the three of us that do it, and we’ve got a whole team supporting us in various countries.”
Building Bottle Up in a time of crisis
Transforming an idea into a physical product proved to be no easy feat — especially when the world shut down. “It was quite challenging because it was just before Covid,” Eversden recalls. “We had the idea, we were talking to bottle manufacturers, filling locations all in the UK. The UK will be our and still is our target market, just because of the vast amounts of bottled water that is sold and drunk here… around 7 billion bottles and cans a year.”
After months of design and manufacturing work — “about 20 different designs before we came to the bottle that we have today” — disaster struck. “Then Covid hit. So we had a really nice first retailer on board WH Smith Travel locations. And then one day to the next, that all disappeared.”
Yet the crisis became an unexpected opportunity for reflection. “It was quite a challenge, because we were literally sitting in the office like, okay, what do we do now?” he says. “But we just said, well, we’re just going to motor on… It also gave us some time to really develop the product whilst the rest of the world was closed.”
That resilience paid off. When lockdowns lifted, Bottle Up emerged stronger — and its product ready for market.
What makes bottle up different
At the heart of the company is its bottle: sleek, durable and environmentally conscious. “The combination of the bottled water in a reusable bottle,” Eversden explains. “The bottle is reusable, it’s plant-based material. So it’s not made using oil. It’s made using sugarcane.”
The choice of sugarcane is both practical and philosophical. “It’s a renewable source — the sugarcane grows again and again. It has the same characteristics as a standard HDPE plastic bottle, but it’s just not made from oil.”
Unlike many competitors, Bottle Up sources and fills its water locally. “We don’t like to import water,” says Eversden. “There are brands out there that import it from the other side of the world. We don’t like to transport water across water.” Instead, production takes place “just south of Manchester,” using British spring water.
Even the manufacturing process reflects the company’s environmental ethos. “Because of the nature of the bottle, it’s not a PET oil-based bottle, so the bottle has to rest for 24 hours once it’s produced, because it can still expand or shrink slightly,” he explains. “We’ve designed it uniquely so that people, when they pick up the bottle, either they’ve been given it or they buy it, they will want to reuse the bottle.”
Giving back through the made Blue Foundation
From the outset, Bottle Up’s mission has gone beyond its own customers. “We always had the idea that we don’t want to be drinking alone,” Eversden says. “Every bottle we sell, we donate 100 litres of clean drinking water to a Dutch charity foundation called the Made Blue Foundation.”
That partnership has become a cornerstone of the company’s identity. “They are all about setting up water projects in developing countries,” he says. “So for every bottle we sell… we make sure that 100 litres of water is donated. Over the years, we’ve been able to donate around £42,000, which is great. And to see the projects that they’re setting up with that money is really great.”
Why hotels are paying attention
Initially, Bottle Up’s founders assumed retail would be their biggest opportunity. “We thought retail was the holy grail for us because that’s where they sell a lot of water,” Eversden admits. “But it’s very hard as a startup to get in between the existing brands.”
The pivot to hospitality proved transformative. “Our focus has moved slightly to hotels and hospitality, where a lot of bottled water is either given away or sold,” he explains. “A lot of hotels give away bottled water in their rooms, and at the same time they’re trying to be sustainable as well.”
For hoteliers seeking certification under schemes like Green Key, Bottle Up offers a tangible win. “This ticks a few boxes when it comes to reducing waste from single use,” says Eversden. “It completes the guest experience.”
And guests, he notes, love it. “We get a lot of response from people who have picked up a bottle in the room in London or wherever, and then they take it home with them… they post about it on social media or drop the hotel a line to say, wonderful stay and we really like the little touch of the bottle.”
The success stories of partnerships
Bottle Up’s partnerships with properties such as the Strand Palace Hotel and Richmond Hill have become industry case studies. “I read a post on LinkedIn from the general manager at Strand Palace,” Eversden recalls. “She was very open about the fact that they were using 15,000 single use bottles a week in the hotel.”
When the hotel sought alternatives, Bottle Up stepped forward. “We did a trial on one of the floors… and we came out on top, luckily,” he says. The results have been remarkable: “We’ve been able to reduce the amount of single use bottles down from 15,000… to approximately about 4,000 a week of Bottle Up. The majority of those bottles are going with the guests, so they’re not staying in the hotel.”
Richmond Hill Hotel, meanwhile, opted for a branded approach. “They’ve chosen to have their logo printed on the bottle,” says Eversden. “They get a lot of good response from that as well.”
Some properties sell the bottles through lobby shops; others offer them complimentary. “Being flexible — either offering the bottle to be given away or to sell — is great,” he says. “It’s a pretty neat operation, pretty flexible as well, which is great in these days.”
The changing landscape of hotel sustainability
As more properties look to cut single-use waste, Eversden has seen momentum build. “It’s definitely growing,” he says. “We definitely see more and more hotels reaching out to us… They want to have a piece of the action.”
Still, he acknowledges that cost remains a consideration. “For some, it’s very easy for hotels just to order very cheap bottled water,” he says. “A lot comes down to price… Our bottle is slightly more expensive, but if you do choose to sell the bottle, then there’s some nice margin to make as well.”
Beyond economics, he notes, the real challenge is awareness. “The concept is still relatively new… There’s a lot of hotels that might not know about our existence yet,” he says. “Although we do see a growth of hotel managers contacting us rather than we have to chase them.”
Eversden also recognises the broader context hoteliers face. “If you look at the Green Key certification, it covers about 17 points,” he explains. “So there’s a lot to be done… It’s very hard and challenging for hotels to focus on all those points. We completely understand that.”
That’s why partnerships matter. “It depends on the person driving it,” he says. “We notice a very big difference between hotels that have a very dedicated, driven person to become more sustainable and hotels who might not have that top of mind.”
Bottle Up’s part to play
For Eversden, the next decade will be decisive. “I hope that more and more hotels will be reducing their water consumption, in the rooms, showers and toilets, but also in the bottled water,” he says. “Obviously I hope Bottle Up can play a big part in that.”
He expects waste reduction to become the defining challenge. “The reducing of the waste is a very big element,” he notes. “As an example, Strand Palace buying 15,000 bottles of water. With Bottle Up people would be drinking them and taking them with them. So that’s a big win just there.”
His advice to hotels starting their sustainability journey is simple: learn from others. “Look at those case studies and contact other hotels to see how it’s going,” he suggests. “There’s a reason why some hotels are doing this with success, and it’s definitely something that can be rolled out.”
Expanding the vision
As for Bottle Up’s own next steps, evolution is constant. “We’ve shifted our focus from retail slightly more to hospitality because I think there’s a big win for them and for us there as well,” says Eversden. The company is “expanding into a few new countries” and has “recently brought out a slightly smaller size bottle… more suitable for airline trolleys [and] train trolleys.”
Cost efficiency remains a goal too. “We’ve also invested in a new mould, which makes the bottle slightly cheaper to produce so we can be more competitive,” he says. And personalisation continues to be key: “We can offer bespoke embossing… a bottle which has their name or brand embossed on the bottle.”
A positive past and future
Reflecting on the company’s journey, Eversden remains characteristically upbeat. “If I look at my Bottle Up career, anyway, it’s only been positive,” he says. “We rarely hear anybody that challenges us or is negative about the brand.”
His optimism is rooted in a belief that progress is possible, one refill at a time. “We tend to stay very enthusiastic and positive, even though some things take a long time,” he says. “Hopefully we’re leaving people enthusiastic about the brand as well… We’re constantly learning, even though we’ve been doing this for a good five or six years.”
As the hospitality sector continues to wrestle with the balance between guest comfort and environmental responsibility, Bottle Up offers both a practical solution and a hopeful story — one that began with a simple question about a single-use bottle and has grown into a mission to change how the world drinks water.
