The best single-use bottle is the one nobody bought.
We often reach for a bottle out of habit, even though drinking water is close at hand. BottleChallenge helps change that habit, so that reaching for your own bottle becomes as natural as reaching for your keys.
Giving up a single-use bottle is prevention: a bottle nobody bought does not need collecting, sorting or processing. A water bottle is used for a few minutes, and the plastic stays for hundreds of years.
Since you opened this page, people around the world have bought about0plastic drink bottles.
People around the world buy about half a trillion such bottles a year, more than 15,000 every second. The bottles bought in just four seconds, stood side by side, would cover a whole tennis court. And so on, around the clock, every day.
Estimate based on world sales of plastic drink bottles, Euromonitor International.
How it works
Find water
The map in the app shows more than 57,000 places in 95 countries where you can fill a bottle for free, from city fountains to cafés and restaurants.
Fill up and hold your phone to the sticker
After filling your bottle, hold your phone to the BottleChallenge sticker at that place. The app records the fill and adds EcoDrops to your account.
Swap EcoDrops
Swap EcoDrops for rewards from partners: tickets, passes and discounts, for example for the cinema, a museum or the gym.
You get EcoDrops where there is a BottleChallenge sticker. At the other places on the map you can fill your bottle just the same, only without EcoDrops.
Three things have to work together
Water within reach
There have to be enough places to fill a bottle that the alternative to plastic is always nearby. Without that, even the most motivated person goes back to buying bottles.
Reward instead of a lecture
People change what they do when the new way is easier and pays off better than the old one. EcoDrops, a team and small prizes give people a reason to reach for their own bottle, whatever their views on the environment.
Trust in tap water
Where tap water is good to drink, people often still do not trust it, because years of advertising have sold them bottled water. When your favourite café fills your bottle, some of that trust comes back. A good experience, repeated, works better than any information campaign.
A bottle that pays off.
In your city, on the road, at work. Thirsty? Instead of buying water in a single-use bottle, you fill your own, collect EcoDrops and swap them for rewards from partners: tickets, passes and discounts. Choices like this decide what we leave behind for the next generations. Let’s take care of it together.
Why it works
People know plastic does harm and still reach for a bottle, because it is right there and needs no thought. So BottleChallenge does not lecture. Instead, it makes reaching for your own bottle easier and better value than buying one.
Water on the way
The map shows all places with water and leads you to the nearest one. You fill your bottle on the way, without a detour.
A reward right away
Every fill confirmed at a sticker brings you EcoDrops straight away. On top of that there are streaks of days with a filled bottle, rankings and challenges. A small reward now works better than a distant goal, also for people who do not put the environment first.
Rewards without new waste
EcoDrops buy tickets, passes and discounts, for example for the cinema, a museum or the pool. These are rewards you experience, not more objects that someone throws away later.
Together it lasts longer
People keep a habit longer when they change it together with others. In BottleChallenge League, friends, families and colleagues play as a team and compare their results.
Who makes BottleChallenge
Venues with water
Cafés, restaurants, hotels and offices fill bottles with tap water for free. People find them on the map.
Reward sponsors
Cinemas, theatres, museums and other places offer tickets, passes and discounts that people collect with EcoDrops.
Companies
Employees play as a team in BottleChallenge League, and the company gets summaries for its reports.
Cities
They show residents where the fountains are and see in a dashboard where water is missing.
Water utilities
They promote tap water and see in a dashboard where and when people fill their bottles.
Users build the map
Anyone can add a fountain that is missing from the map. All it takes is the location, a photo and the type of water. Moderators check every new place before it appears on the map, and once they approve it, you get EcoDrops.
Users also report places that have stopped working, which keeps the map up to date.
A non-profit, with figures you can check
Non-profit from the start
BottleChallenge is a project of the BrainGreen Foundation in Warsaw, built by volunteers. The app is free and has no ads. BottleChallenge does not sell data and does not make money from it in any other way. The project is funded by donations and work with companies.
What the app counts
The app counts fills confirmed at NFC stickers. BottleChallenge does not convert them into kilograms of plastic or CO2, because the number of filled bottles is not a measure of the weight of waste.