“Source” water fountain system by Ollie Craig

A fascinating new take on the difficult issue of plastic water bottles, and how to make the whole thing less wasteful. Designed mainly for urban locations, innovative product designer Ollie Craig has created a fountain system, named Source, intended to be installed at commercial locations such as department stores. The intention: free water fill-ups for the drinker, less plastic bottles being thrown away, accumulated reward points (via a smart chip system embedded i the bottles) and increased custom for the store itself. To quote the official line:

Source is a water bottle and fountain system that allows consumers convenient access to free filtered tap water within busy urban environments. High street retail stores such as Topshop, Muji and John Lewis would buy the source water fountain and install it at the entrance to their store. Consumers buy the source water bottle from stores that support the system and can fill it up whenever they pass a fountain. To encourage the use of the bottle, consumers will gain reward points every time they fill their bottle with water. These points can be redeemed against items in the stores supporting the system.

Whether it takes off will remain to be seen, but the idea is creative and ingenious, whilst at the same time being simple, elegant and functional. Just the way design should be.