Indonesia’s biggest bottled water producer Danone-AQUA wins Consumer Good of the Year at FMCG Awards 2021

With two-thirds of the population lacking access to safe drinking water, the homegrown brand stays as a household name in Indonesia to date for its sustainable practices and innovative solutions.

Danone-AQUA bags the Consumer Good of the Year in the product category for their legendary bottled water in the first ever FMCG Asia Awards 2021. In its inaugural year, the awards aim to recognize the region's best fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies that have shown exemplary performance and their most outstanding products and initiatives.

Founded in 1973, Danone-AQUA is a pioneer of bottled water and light beverages in Indonesia which aims to deliver nourishing elements of water and beverages, whilst conserving nature and the country’s resources. With 21 factories as of today, the company uses water emanating from natural springs located in every supply chain area in Indonesia and is hygienically processed, bottled, and distributed to ensure its purity and freshness down to its last drop. 

Innovations have kept the heritage brand relevant as the company offers varied packaging that each caters to the needs of the consumers with sustainability of the environment in mind.  

Committed early on to providing access to affordable potable water in large formats, the company was the first brand to introduce drinking water in gallon packaging for household purposes that can be reused and recycled since 1983. They also launched AQUA LIFE where they produced PET bottles made of 100% recycled material. The company revealed that they are planning to produce the smaller version of their most popular 600-ml bottle soon in the market.

With a vision to maintain a business that focuses on health through sustainable operation, Danone-AQUA consistently strives to work for the benefit for all stakeholders, the environment as well as with the community. 

Their program dubbed as AQUA Home Service (AHS) or AQUA Ladies has empowered 8,000 women in the country to become entrepreneurs by selling and distributing Danone-AQUA products from the comfort of their homes. 

AQUA’s social performance is also highly regarded by the US-based non-profit organization B-Lab, becoming the first and only Indonesian FMCG to be issued the B-Corp certification as an international acknowledgment of the practice to utilize business to create value for society in 2018. 

Besides acquiring the B-Corp certification for the second time, they also received a higher score of 93.8 compared to the previous 85.9 this year, which proves the company’s unrelenting efforts to serve positive impacts on social and environmental development.

Head of Industrial Research and Development of the Indonesian Industry Ministry Ngakan Timur Antara hailed Danone-AQUA’s efforts to show attention to the environment, aside from industrial development.

"We appreciate efforts carried out by private companies such as Danone-AQUA to educate the public on the importance of plastic waste management. It is high time to start developing a circular economy management model that can create new economic cycles for the people whilst also bringing benefits to the environment,” he said.