Freewa, a Croatian startup conceived with the goal of preserving drinking water sources, is launching a crowdfunding campaign at the end of this month.
Freewa (Free Water Project) is one of the five business projects selected by the first tourist accelerator Startup Factory Zagreb in 2016. It’s a concept consisting of a web platform, a mobile app for mapping free drinking water locations on a global level, and an eco water bottle with a bag.
This admirable initiative was devised by four young enthusiasts who got inspired by the fact that Croatia ranks third in Europe in the number of drinking water sources, and set out to design a platform in order to create the first database of locations where one can safely fill a bottle with fresh water. As the world is currently facing a growing disaster in the form of increasing quantities of plastic waste, Freewa decided to tackle that problem as well and design a water bottle made of eco materials such as glass and biodegradable plastic. By using the 100% recyclable bottle, consumers will be decreasing PET packaging usage by 100 bottles annually!
The bottle named “Hvala” will be sold together with a pouch designed as a Croatian souvenir, enriching the project with added value of contributing to the tourist offer. To inspire people to participate as much as possible, the platform will include a loyalty programme, rewarding users who continually contribute by marking water sources on the map with new Freewa bottles.
The final incentive to support this commendable project is the fact that Freewa bottles will be entirely manufactured in Croatia, as the founders wanted to contribute to the national economy and support sustainable ecologic production. They partnered with three distinguished Croatian manufacturers of glass, plastic and textile: Vetropack, Tvornica Hajduk Plastic and Udruga Kamensko.
The crowdfunding campaign is launching on Indiegogo on May 29th, and we hope consumers worldwide will acknowledge the value of this genius idea. Until the campaign is a go, learn more about the project here!
