Reed Paget, co-founder of Belu Water believes business can create a positive future

Reed Paget isn’t a fan of campaigning groups. It’s not that he doesn’t support environmental and social action; in fact most of his adult life has been geared towards trying to make people sit up and take notice through any means he can, including graffiti and documentary making. But to him, green business leaders are far more essential to the cause.

In 2003, Reed put his money where his mouth was – with some financial support from backers like Gordon Roddick, the co-founder of the Body Shop – and set up Belu, the UK’s first carbon-neutral bottled water company.

Acutely aware that consumer habits die hard, and that the bottled water industry was in full flow, his aim was to offer an alternative to the two million or so litres of unsustainable water sold throughout the UK every year. “We just went into a supermarket and thought, which of these popular products could we make greener? The choice was endless but we decided on water,” says the 44-year-old in his gentle Seattle accent.

“We have done everything as environmentally and socially-friendly as possible. We source water from the UK – Wenlock Water in Shropshire – use biodegradable bottles made of corn-starch, and all our net profits go to fund clean water projects in developing countries.”

Reed has worked non-stop to build the company over the past seven years, and Belu has enabled more than 40,000 people to gain access to clean water in places like India, Madagascar, Mali and Bangladesh. He’s won numerous awards for his efforts, including the coveted Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008.

The company is also working on clean water projects in the UK and has created the ‘I Love the Thames’ initiative. The first scheme to come under its banner was launched this July – a sixty thousand pound rubbish collector that’s expected to take 40 tonnes of waste from the river each year.

When he speaks about his business and the issues he cares about, Reed’s face is full of expression. His warm eyes crinkle in disbelief as he ponders the destructive practices of greedy corporates. A cross between a hot-shot business person and a social issues warrior, Reed is part of a growing breed of social entrepreneurs and in 2007, he was one of 30 business people to be appointed by the government as Social Enterprise Ambassadors for the UK. These are the sort of people who can really change our future, believes Reed.

When I ask what prompted him to start Belu, a colourful history outpours. From the dissent he experienced through working in the fishing industry in Alaska as a teenager, to spending three years travelling around developing countries, his eyes were opened so wide that he couldn’t not do something positive.

He started off making his own political documentaries and ended up at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002. The conclusion of the event was that for everyone to live the way westerners did, three-to-five planet Earths would be needed. This realisation had a profound effect on him.

“People still want clothes, cars and food so I’m not suggesting we try to get human beings to give up too much of their creature comforts. And I don’t think we should hyper-tax everything so that they don’t consume but, in some areas, I think we need to regulate consumption because resources are so scarce; in the same way we protect endangered species, I guess,” he says, hardly drawing breath.

Reed is keen to encourage businesses to change the way they calculate success. “Rather than just counting profit maximisation, they simply need to have a second bottom line and think about the effects of what they’re selling or doing,” he says.

“People need to innovate better ways of manufacturing things, consuming things and disposing of things. We need to give people the stuff they want at a sustainable cost. Yes, it costs money to innovate – we put four hundred and fifty thousand pounds into creating a greener bottle – but our generation of business leaders has to be more responsible, and many modern companies demonstrate how profit can still be made.”

Reed points to businesses like the Big Issue, Cafedirect and the Eden Project as popular success stories. And he is particularly impressed by Elvis & Kresse, a new company run by his fellow ambassador Kresse Wesling, which makes ‘upcycled’ products from waste. The range includes belts made from old fire hoses (with 50% of profits donated to fire fighters), bags, iPod cases and more.

“I’m a big fan,” says Reed. “All sorts of things can be made and sold out of our waste. It’s such a simple and fun idea.” He suggests that anyone entrepreneurial looking for a job or career could also do something like this, or like him, peruse the supermarket shelves for an opportunity to create a more ethical product.

“We, and the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs, have to rock the boat,” he says. “We need to build a better boat. Good businesses can do it.”

Contact: Belu Water,
7 Clifford Street, London, W1S 2WE
Website: www.belu.org

Reed Paget, the founder of Belu Water
Photo: copyright Belu