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Nestlé Pure Life

Is Pure Life the most ethical and sustainable bottled water? 

Pure Life is a Nestlé-owned Bottled Water brand that is listed in The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Bottled Water Ratings Table. Although Pure Life is yet to meet our ethical standards, we expect the brand to improve its brand ethics and sustainability in the future. There are a number of different attributes that a brand must display in order for us to grant Ethical Accreditation and excels in some of them; however, in other research categories, Pure Life has a long way to go.

We would have extra confidence in this brand if it submitted itself to apply for Ethical Accreditation, whereby The Good Shopping Guide would be able to make a further detailed assessment and provide recommendations for ethical improvement. We acknowledge that there is a lot of room for improvement by this brand, but we are confident that this brand can become Ethically Accredited in the future if it strives for a higher ethical standard of business practice.

See our article on Ethical Bottled Water to find out more about recyclable and recycled bottled water brands and responsible waste disposal schemes.

What does Pure Life do and what is its history?

Nestlé Pure Life earned its place as one of the world’s largest bottled water brands by delivering water to more than 40 countries. Pure Life is bottled at the source. Nestlé Pure Life was first established in Pakistan in 1998, spreading to Europe in 2000 and the United States in 2002. The brand has reduced its PET consumption; it’s encouraging that a large bottled water brand recognises the importance of reducing plastic usage and waste.

For which criteria does Pure Life perform poorly? 

Despite Pure Life ranking highly in many categories there are still some issues yet to be dealt with by the company; the brand lacks statements and accountability documents regarding Genetic Modification and Animal Welfare.

In what areas does Pure Life score well for its brand ethics?
Pure Life does score well in categories such as providing an Environmental Report, and there is no evidence that Pure Life financially benefits from any investments in Nuclear power or Armaments.

Nestlé, the company that owns Pure Life, has set a number of environmental targets, including Net Zero by 2050, planting 200m trees by 2030, and having 100% recyclable packaging by 2025. Publishing these reports allows consumers, investors, and other authoritative bodies to hold these large companies to account for their environmental activities.

Ethical and Sustainability Certification for Brands of Bottled Water

Why not check out Ethical Accreditation from The Good Shopping Guide if you work for or own an Ethical Bottled Water brand? Get customised guidance and recommendations on sustainability and corporate ethics, and submit your application to use our esteemed Ethical Mark. To begin, just fill out our brief Sustainability and Ethics Application form.

Ethical performance in category

0

GSG score

31
75

GSG category benchmark

100

Ethical Rating

Environment

  • Environmental Report

    Good

  • Genetic Modification

    Poor

  • Nuclear Power

    Good

  • Fossil Fuels

    Good

Animal

  • Animal Welfare

    Poor

People

  • Armaments

    Good

  • Political Donations

    Poor

Other

  • Ethical Accreditation

    Poor

  • Public Record Criticisms

    Poor

  • Public Record Criticisms+

    Poor

= GSG Top Rating = GSG Middle Rating = GSG Bottom Rating