They may not be Unilever, CocaCola or Nestle in terms of production output, but Thankyou Group have sold millions and millions of bottles of single use plastic water for their cause over the past 12 years and they have finally called it a day, after struggling for years with a clear contradiction in creating more of the problem they are trying to help solve.
Melbourne based Aussie social enterprise, Thankyou said as they announced their exit:
"LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM IS THAT WE, THANKYOU; AN ORGANISATION THAT EXISTS TO HELP CHANGE THE WORLD, SELL SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOTTLED WATER."
The company was founded with a mission to help solve the world's water crisis; 900 million without access to safe water, with 4,500 children dying each day from waterborne disease. Their first and most successful product until today, when it ceases production, was Plastic Bottled Water.
While the machinery of the idea was not only successful in terms of raising funds, it has saved many lives. Thankyou report that sales have impacted 871,000 lives, and delivered $6.9 million to support the world’s poorest on their journey out of extreme poverty.
But of course there is always the elephant. In saving one group of lives, a whole other group is at best impacted and at worst, lost. Single use plastics - and bottled water itself create longer term problems even as they solve many short term ones.
There is of course also the issue of inferred legitimacy which must surely have been playing on the founder's minds, especially as the business expanded and became better known. Their success essentially helped to legitimise and perpetrate more single use plastic water sales by copy cats, creating an ever growing problem.
So, for those of you who collect trophies for the Pool Room or Collectables, you might want to head off to the supermarket real soon before stocks run out. Just don't drink the stuff.