Washington, D.C., April 22, 2020 – LifeStraw®, a globally-recognized water industry pioneer and developer of innovative water filtration solutions, today released its 2019 Responsibility Report. Key accomplishments included: providing 1.19 million school children in low resource communities with a year of safe water and removing 5.1 tons of plastic from its supply chain by moving away from some products with disposable plastic packaging materials to more sustainable packaging materials. This report highlights LifeStraw’s 26-year commitment to social responsibility and technology innovation led by its mission to address water quality needs around the globe including the reduction of viruses, bacteria, parasites, heavy metals such as lead, chemicals and other emerging contaminants.
LifeStraw was built on a partnership that started over 25 years ago with the Carter Center in a collective effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease by designing a simple mesh filter that removes the parasite from drinking water. Today, building on the humanitarian technology leadership, LifeStraw has become a market leader in water filtration and purification for outdoor sports and recreation, and has also entered the home water filtration category, winning several awards in 2019 for sustainable and socially responsible design.
“We are only a few months into 2020, yet 2019 seems like a world away,” said Alison Hill, CEO of LifeStraw. “While the health of our families and our economy are uncertain, it can be challenging to look forward. We are a company that has never been afraid to tackle difficult problems and we look at these difficulties with clear eyes and absolute commitment to change the world for the better. I am thankful for our team, our partners and our customers; we will rise to meet this crisis. We recognize the link between human health and environmental health and believe we have a role to play in preserving both during this crisis and after it is gone. We are pleased to share our success from 2019, but also know that there is significant work to do.”
In addition during 2019, LifeStraw’s impact on people included: over 93,000 people were provided safe water during natural disasters in the Bahamas, India, Indonesia, Mozambique, the Philippines and Somalia; 322 new schools were added in Kenya, Ghana and Mexico through LifeStraw’s Give Back program; over 520,000 Guinea worm filters were donated to the Carter Center. LifeStraw also details its focus on women and girls, its employee engagement and volunteer initiatives, and its diverse workforce and commitment to diversity and inclusion as a brand.
With regard to initiatives that protected the planet: 2019 marked the first year LifeStraw will offset all of its CO2 emissions with Climate Neutral. They also reached one million people with their Clean Water Across America advocacy campaign and reported that 51 million single-use water bottles have the potential to be offset due to the sale of LifeStraw bottle and home products.
For 2020, LifeStraw will continue to expand upon the pillars of the company’s original mission including: its Give Back program; Guinea worm eradication, international emergency relief work; humanitarian partnerships; school program partnership; female empowerment and diversity and inclusion.
“Our global community now faces new challenges with an unprecedented viral pandemic that is testing the strength and resolve of our economy and each one of us. While this pandemic has changed the lives of every person on this planet, it has highlighted the inequities and vulnerabilities of many of the low resource communities that we are committed to helping. As we make commitments for 2020, it is with these communities in mind and clear resolve that we have a responsibility to play our part.”
