Toral Gandhi and her family moved to Hinsdale from Chicago two years ago. As senior director of on premise sales and strategy for Open Water, Gandhi works to bring the company's aluminum-bottled water to locations across the country. (Jim Slonoff photo)
Why is aluminum a better choice for bottled water?
When Hinsdale resident Toral Gandhi gets ready for work each day or packs her bags for her next business trip, she's doing it for much more than a paycheck.
"I wanted to do something that had a positive impact on the world," Gandhi said.
After earning a business degree from the University of Michigan, Gandhi worked in the financial services industry for several years before meeting Nicole Doucet and Jeff Page, co-founders of Open Water.
Open Water is a Chicago-based, women-owned bottled water brand committed to reducing ocean plastic pollution. Founded a decade ago, Open Water is the first company to package water in aluminum.
"Aluminum is the most sustainable material for beverage packaging," Gandhi said. "It's the material least likely to end up in our landfills and oceans."
Aluminum, Gandhi said, can be recycled over and over again, making the containers far less likely than other packaging to end up in a landfill. Seventy-three percent of aluminum used in Open Water packaging has been used at least once before. While plastic bottles can be turned into other products, they are typically downcycled rather than recycled.
"They never really go away," Gandhi said, and eventually end up in landfills, oceans, and even in our bodies. Recent studies, Gandhi said, show that microplastics are ingested into the body when drinking from disposable plastic bottles. That knowledge has spurred further interest in Open Water products, Gandhi said.
Gandhi was Open Water's first and only employee when she joined the company eight years ago. At that time, she worked in nearly every aspect of the venture, including packaging and delivering orders. Today, her focus is on expanding the number of places across the country where Open Water is sold.
Open Water products are sold nationwide at businesses like Chipotle and Sweetgreen. Locally, the water is available at Kramer Foods, Standard Market, Fresh Thyme and Caputo's locations. Places like the Field Museum, the Art Institute and the Museum of Science and Industry sell Open Water to guests. Open Water also can be ordered for home delivery through the company website or Amazon.
Open Water's commitment to the environment goes beyond its packaging, Gandhi said. With manufacturing facilities and warehouses scattered across the country, the environmental cost of producing and transporting Open Water products is minimized, Gandhi said, helping the company to become climate neutral certified.
Open Water also encourages other earth-friendly ventures by donating 1 percent of sales to nonprofit organizations that share their mission to reduce the impact of plastics on the environment.
While teaching visitors about Open Water's efforts, the Open Water website, http://www.drinkopenwater.com, is also a place to learn about the impact of plastic on the environment. The website states that by 2050, there will be more pounds of plastic in our oceans than fish.
Open Water and Gandhi are doing their part to change that, one aluminum can or bottle at a time.
- by Sandy Illian Bosch
