Ec’Eau Sustainable Initiative — Turning Yachts Plastic-Free, One Drop at a Time

Ambitious, measurable and marine-first: how French Eaux is cutting single-use plastics, CO₂ and waste through on-board filtration, fountains and reusable solutions.

Since 1995, French Eaux — a subsidiary of Groupe Domeau based in Béziers — has designed and installed water-treatment solutions in mainland France, overseas territories and internationally. Whether for the home, the workplace or at sea, we guarantee safe, filtered water tailored to every use. With the Ec’Eau Sustainable Initiative we are now accelerating our environmental commitment: cutting plastic bottles, lowering carbon emissions, and protecting marinas and oceans through measurable action.

Why act now? The scale of the problem — in numbers you can’t ignore

~500 billion single-use plastic bottles are produced and used worldwide every year.

Only a small double-digit percentage of those bottles is recycled; most become waste or litter, contributing to 20+ million tonnes of plastic entering the environment annually.

Producing and distributing bottled water carries a real carbon cost: a typical 1.5 L PET bottle represents roughly 160 g CO₂e from production and logistics — multiply that by thousands of bottles per boat and the footprint grows fast.

In the superyacht sector alone, surveys and extrapolations estimate tens of millions of litres of bottled water are consumed every year — the equivalent of millions of single-use PET bottles that must be stored, managed and disposed of. One sector study extrapolated about 40 million litres consumed across participating yachts.

Attitudes aboard remain a barrier: many owners and guests still prefer bottled water (surveys show very high reliance on bottled water aboard yachts), so technical solutions must be paired with strong communication and hospitality standards to change behaviour.

These numbers show two facts: the environmental and operational cost of bottled water at sea is large, and the opportunity to reduce impact is immediate and quantifiable.

Ec’Eau Initiative — measurable objectives (first 36 months)

French Eaux sets the following targets for its customers and installations within three years of adoption (yacht fleets, marinas, premium hospitality clients):

Eliminate 90% of single-use plastic water bottles on participating vessels.

Measured via provisioning records, delivered litres and before/after baseline surveys.

Reduce embedded CO₂ related to bottled water by ≥70% per vessel per year.

Based on replacing purchased bottles with on-board production and chilled dispensing (using conservative lifecycle figures for bottles).

Divert thousands of bottles from marine waste streams.

Each medium-sized yacht (example baseline) can avoid 5,000–15,000 bottles annually depending on occupancy and charter profile; scaled fleetwide this equates to tens or hundreds of thousands of bottles prevented.

Increase reusable bottle adoption among crew and guests to >85% on fitted vessels.

Supported by branded bottles, guest communications and visible fountains/taps.

How we deliver reductions — product ecosystem + tactics

French Eaux’s Ec’Eau approach combines hardware, user experience and operational changes:

1. On-board production: OneZero Osmosis Unit

Produces pharmacy-grade purified water (reverse osmosis) with compact, marine-ready footprint. Eliminates the need to stock and transport bottled water from shore.

2. Point-of-use dispensing: Oceane Fountain + U4 / U5 taps

Provide chilled, ambient and sparkling water on demand at guest points (salon, cockpit, galley). High flow (up to 50 L/h) and sparkling options remove the perceived advantage of bottled sparkling water.

3. High-quality reusable bottles

Durable 600 mL stainless steel bottles with ceramic lining (keeps water fresh, thermally insulated) offered to guests and crew — replacing hundreds of single-use bottles per person each year.

4. Operational playbook

Crew training: how to present on-board water as premium, hygienic and zero-plastic.

Signage & hospitality cues: visible “No Single-Use Plastic” messaging, branded bottles in cabins, and sparkling water served from the Oceane rather than bottles.

Measured metrics: dashboards for litres dispensed vs bottles avoided, CO₂ saved, and plastic waste prevented.

Realistic example — expected annual savings per mid-size yacht (illustrative baseline)

Baseline bottled water use: 5,000 L/year → ~10,000 single-use 0.5 L bottles.

Replacing bottled supply with OneZero + Oceane + U4: 0 plastic bottles required for drinking water.

CO₂ avoidance: at ~160 g CO₂e per 1.5 L bottle (scaled appropriately), avoiding 10,000 bottles reduces emissions by several hundred kilograms to over a tonne CO₂e depending on bottle sizes and logistics.
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Space & cost: storage & provisioning costs fall dramatically; estimate provisioning volume freed = several cubic meters (no pallets of bottles, no dedicated refrigeration space).

Beyond numbers: biodiversity, reputation and cost savings

Reducing plastic also reduces risk of microplastic infiltration into bilge water and discharge streams.

Owners and charter operators gain reputational value: sustainability is increasingly a commercial differentiator in charters and resale.

Over a 10-year vessel lifetime, replacing bottled water supply with on-board production and reusable systems typically returns an investment through avoided bottle procurement, logistics and waste handling.

Monitoring, certification and reporting

Ec’Eau offers a simple reporting kit for clients:

Monthly litres-dispensed reports from fountains/taps (or crew logs).

Annual plastic bottles avoided and estimated CO₂e avoided (standardized methodology).

A “Plastic-Free Onboard” certificate for vessels meeting thresholds — useful for charter marketing and corporate sustainability reporting.

Call to action — how to join Ec’Eau today

French Eaux invites yacht owners, fleets and marinas to pilot the Ec’Eau package: hardware (OneZero + Oceane/U4 or U5), starter reusable bottle pack for guests and crew, installation & crew training, and 12-month impact reporting. Together we turn large, global plastic and carbon figures into local, measurable wins.

French Eaux has more than 30 years of experience delivering tailored water solutions. By combining proven filtration technology with a decisive sustainability program, Ec’Eau converts that expertise into real environmental results: fewer bottles, less waste, lower emissions — and cleaner seas.