Coca-Cola uses tap water from local municipal water supplies, filters it using the process of reverse osmosis, and adds trace amounts of minerals, including magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride and sodium chloride. Coca-Cola announced they would be distributing Dasani water in new packaging made of 30% plant-derived plastics. Unlike other plant-based packaging, the bottles are compatible with standard recycling plants and represent up to a 25% reduction in carbon emissions compared to standard water bottles, though this still represents 2000 times the energy usage of tap water.
Canada
Dasani was launched in all provinces of Canada except Quebec in 2000, a year after launching in the United States. The brand was made available in Quebec shortly afterwards, in April 2001. There are six common Dasani bottle sizes sold in Canada: 355 mL, 500mL, 591 mL, 710 mL, 1 L, and 1.5 L. Bottles are sold individually and in packs of 6, 12, and 24. The first Dasani bottling plant in Canada was Calgary, Alberta. A second plant was later opened in Brampton, Ontario. The Calgary and Brampton plants produce Coca-Cola's plain-water and sugar-water products. The company's administrative and marketing activities continue to be based in Atlanta, Georgia. Dasani has <35 ppm of total dissolved mineral salts. In early 2005, two flavored versions of Dasani were introduced: Dasani With Lemon and Dasani With Raspberry. Dasani with Strawberry has since been introduced. The flavored beverages are sweetened with sucralose.
Latin America
Dasani was introduced to the Brazilian market in mid-2003, renamed as Aquarius. It was introduced to the Chilean market in 2005, including releases in regular, lemon and tangerine flavors. It was released in Colombia in late 2005 with their three regular flavors. In 2005, Dasani was introduced in the Argentinian market with the flavours peach, lemon, citrus and regular. It was also released under the name Ciel Dasani in Mexico in four flavours: lemon-cucumber, papaya-carrot, grapefruit and mandarin-green tea, but it was discontinued in 2006. It was also released in Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Honduras.
United Kingdom
Dasani was launched in the UK on 10 February 2004. The product launch was labelled "a disaster", a "fiasco", and a "PR catastrophe". Prior to the launch, an article in The Grocer trade magazine had mentioned that the source of the Dasani brand water was treated tap water from Sidcup, a suburban area on the outskirts of London. By early March 2004, the mainstream press had picked up the story and it became widely reported that Sidcup tap water, after being processed by reverse osmosis, had been remineralized, bottled and sold under the Dasani brand name in the UK. Although Coca-Cola never implied that the water was being sourced from a spring or other natural sources, they marketed it as being especially "pure". This led the Food Standards Agency to request Hillingdontrading standards officers to launch an investigation into whether the claim was accurate. Richard May, Chief Publicity Officer of Dasani, was said to be disappointed that the water had not been more successful. On 18 March 2004, UK authorities found a batch was contaminated with levels of bromate, a suspected human carcinogen, in a concentration above the legal limit for sale, although the FSA announced there was "no immediate risk to public health" from the contamination. Coca-Cola immediately recalled half a million bottles and withdrew the "Dasani" brand from the UK market. The launch, and later contamination scandal, drew comparisons in the press with a 1992 episode of popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses, "Mother Nature's Son" in which lead character Del Boy hatches a scheme selling tap water bottled in his council flat in Peckham—nine miles from Sidcup. As a result, Coca-Cola cancelled plans to expand the brand to continental Europe. In line with the 2012 Summer Olympics and being the official drink sponsor, Coca-Cola decided not to reintroduce the Dasani brand to the UK market, and purchased the Morpeth, Northumberland-based Abbey Well bottler in 2008, branded under the Schweppes brand name to provide a locally sourced water brand for the event. To meet Olympic branding regulations, Abbey Well water was labeled as "Still Water" for on-camera appearances during the Games.
Republic of Ireland
In Ireland, it is marketed as Deep River Rock. The item is sold within various market places and other convenience stores throughout the area.
This filtration process consists of a multi-barrier treatment system using disinfecting, reverse osmosis, and nanofiltration to remove impurities. Coca-Cola claims that this process provides a consistent taste, though the content within the bottles may vary across the world, depending on their source, despite often testing to ensure they meet FDA standards for purified water. Some states allow bottled water plants to meet the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act instead of the FDA's standards for purified water, so not even all Dasani bottles may be held to the same standard. It has been found that bottled water, Dasani included, may be no cleaner than tap water.
Environmental Issues
Dasani sources water from municipal tap water in California locations, even during drought years. Coca-Cola is not required to report how much tap water it processes and bottles at these plants. Bottled water is an exception to the rule about how much water can be taken out of the Great Lakes Basin. Bottled water takes extra energy to produce from filtration, production of bottles, and transportation costs.
Though Detroit has shut off water supply to homes more than $150 behind in their municipal water bills, Dasani plants in Detroit have been in tens of thousands of dollars behind on their municipal water bills and still received municipal water. The amount of money the US spends on bottled water could be used to build three times the water infrastructure needed to deliver clean water around the world.
Sustainability
Aluminum Bottles and Cans
In the summer of 2019, Coke announced that Dasani will become available in aluminum cans. This new line began in the Northeast US in September, and should spread through the rest of the US in 2020. This will not entirely replace their production of plastic bottles. Whether this is environmentally beneficial can be argued: aluminum is more often and more efficiently recycled, but producing one aluminum can produces 1,300g carbon dioxide emissions, which is much more than the 330g it takes to produce one plastic bottle of the same size. Less power is needed to transport and refrigerate canned beverages, which reduces the carbon footprints of cans. Additionally, 69% of aluminum cans are recycled worldwide, but less plastic packaging is recycled.
PureFill
In 2019, Coke announced Dasani Purefill, a program in which customers can refill their bottles with filtered water for free. Adding flavors or carbonation will cost extra. This is predicted to reduce the number of bottles used.
PlantBottle
Coke released a Dasani bottle composed of both plants and recycled plastic, which they say will reduce their plastic bottle production by 1 billion plastic bottles over the next 5 years. This PlantBottle is still recyclable, just like PET plastic. The composition of this bottle will be up to 50% recycled plastic, up to 30% plants, and new plastic. This makes Coca-Cola the largest bioplastic user in the world. Coca-Cola plans to eventually switch to 100% bio-plastic bottles.
Carbon Footprint
Having multiple bottling water facilities across the world reduces energy used for transportation. Cans have a larger carbon footprint than plastic bottles, so this switch to aluminum cans may overall increase Dasani's carbon footprint.
"How2Recycle" Labels
In 2020, Dasani will premier new labels for their bottles with instructions on recycling, referred to as "How2Recycle" labels. The "How2Recycle" label was invented by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and GreenBlue, and can already be found on other products.
Plastic bottles account for 30% of the waste in the Grand Canyon, where Dasani water is the water sold by the parks. The National Park Service considered banning plastic bottles in the park, but Coca-Cola blocked the ban. The Grand Canyon officially banned bottled water in 2012.
