“By considering every stage – how materials are sourced, how the bottle is made, how long it lasts, and how it can be reused or recycled — we can make the entire process more sustainable and less harmful to the environment” – This could be a classical approach of an environmental NGO. And not a bad one!

But we, at ReThink, would ask first – do consumers really need a bottle or do they need water? How could we establish inclusive, distributed, and environmentally friendly access to drinking water as a basic human right? And then would move from there.

Our approach emphasizes the importance of design over waste management, with which circularity is often associated. Imagine if every product you used was designed to last longer and be easily repaired. By designing products this way from the start, we can prevent waste before it occurs. It's like fixing the problem at its root instead of just dealing with the trash afterward. This proactive strategy works better than just managing waste, which often only deals with the symptoms rather than solving the actual problem.