KEEGO – The durable, clean alternative
We set a clear example for quality, durability and sustainability.
Our bottle is the world's first squeezable metal bottle – with an interior made of pure titanium. And that's what makes the difference.
Durability as a key factor for real sustainability
What distinguishes KEEGO from other sports bottles is not only the innovative material, but the extreme durability:
96 % of users use their KEEGO for longer than a year, over 60% even three years or more. In comparison: Conventional plastic bottles often end up in the trash after just a few months. Around 40% of conventional sports bottles are replaced within the first year, at KEEGO are only 4 %. Only 16% the Plastic bottles are longer than 3 years in use.
See the impressive results among our users, where we compared the lifespan of conventional sports bottles with that of the KEEGO:
This impressive lifespan makes the KEEGO a genuine sustainability product – because every year a bottle is used instead of disposable bottles saves:
- the purchase of new bottles
- Production energy
- logistics and transport emissions
- packaging materials
- many hundreds of chemicals in your body
- bad odors and taste
- unnecessary trips to the store or sessions in the online shop,
and of course a lot of Time, money and hassle!
Instead of looking for a new bottle every few months, with KEEGO you have a solution that lasts.
And you can do so with a clear conscience and great taste!
The Future is Reusable
KEEGO is anything but a disposable bottle. Thanks to the titanium layer with non-stick properties on the inside, it is easy to clean. Unlike plastic, titanium has a closed surface. Therefore, no particles settle in the bottle that can lead to mold formation. KEEGO can therefore be used for significantly longer than conventional comparable plastic bottles, on average about 5 times as long! This also reduces the burden on the environment.
We close the loop
A recycling process has been specially developed for recycling old bottles - KEEGO Refresh. Thanks to the different melting points of titanium and plastic, KEEGO can be completely separated, recycled and returned to the cycle. A resource-saving and respectful approach to the environment is our priority.
Local production and short distances
Our bottles are produced and stored in our main market, Germany, to keep transport routes and emissions as low as possible.
Our mindset: Buy less, but buy purposefully, and use the products for as long as possible.
Why do we use plastic in the outer shell?
The plastic on the outside makes the KEEGO significantly more robust and elastic, and therefore more functional and durable. Our standard KEEGO is super lightweight (86g/750ml). Thus, the use of plastic is very low. We are also already working with recycled plastic in the outer shell.
Overall, shorter transport and logistics routes, combined with years of use, result in a lower energy footprint than using multiple cheap water bottles from the Far East.
The starting point:
Plastic bottles have been widespread since the 1970s. In cycling, they represented a major advance over the earlier aluminum bottles with their cork closures. The improved functionality was a clear driver for this change at the time. The plastic bottle was lighter, more durable, fit better in the bottle holder and - very importantly - you could drink faster thanks to the squeezability. These advantages over a metal bottle were so massive that the metal bottle disappeared in sports.
Since then, plastic has begun its "triumphal march" into most areas of our lives. Better functionality and a better price - who can compete with that? The same applies to our favorite opponent: the plastic bottle. Today, you can get a standard plastic sports bottle in your color and with your logo for just €0.50 per piece. A dream not only for every user but also for every marketer!
Personal experiences of our founder Lukas
I remember when I was 10 years old, I received such a bottle from a Swedish floorball player after the European Championship final. The value of this bottle for me was about 100 times higher than the production costs. I used it for many years and still remember the mold that formed and the disgusting taste it developed over time. My mother didn't dare to throw it away.
In retrospect: That's what she should have done!
When I think about my experience, it's no wonderthat around 30,000 bottles are thrown away at every Tour de France, which the fans (hopefully!) can collect. There is no other fan article that even comes close to this number.
At KEEGO, I have thoroughly examined the disadvantages of plastic sports bottles. The 3 big ones are: Taste - Health - and Cleaning. Reason enough to invest in alternative solutions.
With the start of development, I became more and more involved with the topic of product sustainability. And I have to say, the many aspects that influence the circular economy and the sustainability of products are not easy to see through. From the raw materials, the transport, the production (and the energy source for it), the lifespan to the collection and recycling, there are many steps to consider. Not all are easy to measure and compare.
Today:
KEEGO is made for use in sports where squeezability, low weight and robustness are essential factors. In many areas, such as in cycling races, in tight spaces and one behind the other, glass or metal bottles are often not an alternative because the risk of injury to the group becomes too great should one of the bottles fall to the ground. Therefore, we compare ourselves with those bottles that offer a similar functionality in these aspects. These are made of plastic - especially LDPE, HDPE, PP and PET.
In recent years, the collection and recycling of PET has developed massively. We hope that this will also happen for other plastics. However, PET bottles are designed for single use. With continuous use, they unfortunately become thin and fragile quickly.
Therefore, here is a short digression on single-use packaging - to put things into perspective: Single-use packaging is by far the bigger problem.
95% of plastic packaging material is thrown away after a short initial use. This is by far our biggest problem. Please read more about it at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Even in countries that have introduced collection systems for plastic packaging other than PET, only a small proportion is recycled as we would like it to be. In Germany, for example, of all the plastic packaging that ended up in the yellow recycling bin in 2019, only 47% was recycled into new products or raw materials. The rest ended up being incinerated (Source:German Environment Agency)
The difficulty with recycling food packaging is that you have to have precise control over what was contained in the recycled material. This means all types of plastics, dyes, additives, labels, closures, etc. Sometimes thermal recycling is simply the more efficient solution. Countries and institutions are continuously improving the processes for separation and recycling, but there is still a long way to go.
But now the good news: By far the greatest influence on a product's footprint is its lifespan - how long we use it. Therefore, the EllenMacarthur Foundation has introduced the guiding principles "Reduce, Recycle, Reuse." And that is exactly what we at KEEGO adhere to.
We want to help reduce consumption (buy better products, but fewer), recycle (use materials and processes that enable recycling) and reuse (manufacture products that last longer and can be reused).
Since our launch, we have improved aspects of the bottle with each production run to make it last longer AND work better. Because we also believe that a product will only be used permanently if it functions perfectly and does not create the need to buy something new.
For us, the most important aspects are functionality:
- Pure taste
- No unwanted substances and microplastics in the water
- Easy to clean
- Low weight
- Squeezability
Today, 99% of reusable sports bottles are made of PE or PP plastic. As mentioned above, this is a very cheap solution.
The ecological footprint of a product is largely determined by its lifespan - how long it is used before it is thrown away or collected. Mother Nature would prefer us to use our bottles for many years. In stark contrast, studies show that it would be better for our bodies not to use conventional plastic bottles for too long (keyword: microplastics). Read more here.
These problems are easily solved with KEEGO. The easy cleaning of the titanium in the KEEGO bottle also helps to prevent mold, which also contributes to its longevity.
Future aspirations:
Even the best bottle eventually reaches the end of its life.
No bottle is completely safe from mold and a heavily used exterior can lose its appeal for some of us (not for us. Scars show personality). Currently, many countries have collections for PE and PP bottles, which can also be used for KEEGO bottles that are retired. But unfortunately, large parts of these collections end up in thermal recycling.
We not only offer a better alternative to plastic bottles, but we also know that we can do even better when it comes to collection and recycling. That's why we developed the KEEGO Refresh program. With this program, we want to take matters into our own hands and ensure that old KEEGOs are made into new ones.
But that's not enough, because the CO2 footprint is determined by a long list of factors. We regularly reassess the following points and strive to fulfill them. Even if we are not there yet, we keep going.
Here is a brief overview of our future goals:
- KEEGO is becoming the new standard for sports bottles.
- Old KEEGOs can be returned for recycling in numerous stores and directly to us (see KEEGO Refresh).
- 100% of the collected, old KEEGOs are recycled and processed into new products.
- In the future, we would like to focus even more on recycled and sustainable materials.
- We are currently working to keep all our transport routes as short as possible and to bundle all production steps.
- We try to keep the amount of waste produced during production as low as possible and to reintegrate it into the cycle in a meaningful way.
Keep going
Lukas