DT Contest Alert: Win These Penn Alums’ Revolutionary New Water Bottle
More and more entrepreneurs are coming out of Penn these days and their products are really stellar and green.
Such is the case for alumni Aakash Mathur (W’09 C’09, International Affairs Association, Intercol Director) and Jay Parekh (SEAS’09, Engineers without Borders, President).
While Aakash and Jay were at Penn they developed a state of the art water bottle you’ll want to check out that is now hitting the market. After you read more, you’ll think twice before drinking out of a plastic water bottle again.
After the jump learn about their Hydros Bottle, how it was developed at Penn …and how you can win one next week in honor of Earth Day (4/22)!
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| Aakash Mathur |
Aakash and Jay’s Hydros Bottle provides American consumers with access to great tasting, refreshing water on the go through a novel, fast flow filter built into reusable filtered water bottles. Their bottles are made from Tritan™, the same material used in Nalgene bottles, and a sophisticated filter that quickly removes chlorine, chloramines, and particulates. With Hydros Bottle, consumers have an opportunity to fight the global water crisis and the spread of wasteful plastic water bottles. Through Operation Hydros, their donation from each bottle provides 2000 gallons of fresh water through water projects in developing countries as well as hundreds in cash savings for former disposable water bottle drinkers.
How did Aakash and Jay start this endeavor?
Per Aakash,
“The concept for Hydros Bottle began at Penn in the spring of 2009. Both of us were working on separate versions with Innova Materials, another Penn start-up led by friends of ours, spun out of Penn in 2007.
Jay Parekh Jay was president of Penn Engineers Without Borders and had seen the devastating effects of the water crisis first-hand during water infrastructure projects in Cameroon and Honduras. Inspired by his experiences, he worked with Innova to come up with an idea focused on increasing water access amongst the developing country’s rural poor and entered it into the Dell Social Innovation Competition. Concurrently through a Wharton course called Societal Wealth Venturing, I was looking at how profit-seeking entrepreneurship can be used as a model to provide urban consumers in developing nations with clean water on the go.
Once the idea was selected as a Semi Finalist in the Dell competition, we decided to join forces and work on a hybrid of the two concepts, Hydros Bottle. We agreed to first focus on releasing the bottle in America as a substitute for disposable water bottles. This experience would lay the foundation for developing the technologies and the brand awareness to enter the global market.”
More of Aakash’s and Jay’s story HERE
As you can see, Hydros Bottle is a great way to go green. In honor of Earth Day next Thursday (4/22), DT is having a contest where you can win one of these great Hydros Bottles!
To enter, all you need to do is COMMENT BELOW by clicking the “Post a comment” link at very bottom of this DT post (by 4/22, 11:59 pm) on:
- what else you are doing to go green or
- what will you be doing in the coming year to go green? or
- what else are you doing to help others go green?
The more creative the better!
(FYI, Aakash and Jay are currently taking orders online HERE)
Get the contest details here…+/-
*Contest Details:
- Only Penn undergrads, alumni, staff and newly accepted to Penn prospects can participate
- Only comments posted on the DuelingTampons.com site will count. (Facebook comments will not count.)
- In the post, please be sure to leave your first name, last name, class year. I will contact winners via facebook.
- A total of 3 winners will be chosen at random from eligible applicants to receive (via mail) 1 Hydros water bottle
- Contest ends on Earth Day: Thursday, April 22, 2010, 11:59 pm
- How the winners will be chosen:
To decide the winners of this competition, Aakash Mathur and Jay Parekh, will determine the winner based on creativity and impact. I will then contact the winner about his/her prize via facebook by Monday, April 26. I will announce the winner on this blog soon after.
For other Penn folks who want to donate a prize for a future DT contest, email me at 
+ More Penn Entrepreneur alumni HERE
+ How Penn and it’s alumni are creating projects that are green HERE
+ New to DT? 14 easy suggestions to get started!
+ Join the Dueling Tampons Facebook Fan page HERE
 and Jay Parekh (SEAS’09, Engineers without Borders, President). While Aakash and Jay were at Penn they developed a state of the […]){kind=logo}
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19 thoughts on “DT Contest Alert: Win These Penn Alums’ Revolutionary New Water Bottle”
Comments are closed.
Shutting off lights!
— Barry S.
I want one!
I’ve been recycling cans and bottles… old school green!
great work guys. i’ve got energy efficient lightbulbs in my apartment.
In the short term… reduce my use of paper towels. I recycle paper pretty obsessively, but perhaps going through a forest of Bounty every once in a while makes it a wash? I should change this.
In the long term… should I ever have a home built for me, I will consult with GK Alliance, LLC, a real estate development company (co-founded by Systems Engineering Penn alumnus Doug Glanville) that focuses on energy efficiency and sustainability in new home development. Who knows – maybe it also means a former pro baseball player can sign my house.
Quaker Lovin,
Nicole C. Maloy, W’95
Last week my 4-year-old was very proud that she figured out how to do her art project with fewer–and then zero!–plastic baggies so as not to “waste the environment.” I’ll be looking for more of those moments in the coming year.
Looks like things are really moving. I remember Aakash just talking to me about getting into this last year, and now it’s really here and is selling like hot cakes. Keep trucking. Product looks great. – Blake
One day at work I looked in my garbage can at 5pm and noticed all of the plastic bottles I had gone through just drinking water for one day – since then I have been using a reusable bottle and encouraging coworkers to do the same!
Carrie Loewenthal
One day at 5pm, I took a look at the garbage can in my office and noticed all of the water bottles I had gone through in a single day. Since then I have been using a reusable bottle and have been encouraging coworkers to do the same.
– Carrie Loewenthal
This is an innovative idea! Fun twist on going green and being environmentally responsible yet fashionable. Awesome design! Penn alumni are so creative!
This is the kind of Green thinking we need. Ultimately, consumption is the issue. If these bottles can provide clean water and get people to think about ditching the disposables, that’s a great step.
Glad to see you guys using Tritan which is the BPA-free alternative to Nalgene.
– Brian Yanish
Creator of The Scrap Kins, Eco-creativity for Kids
http://www.thescrapkins.com
a fantastic idea – congrats to the penn alums! i’d love to get my hands on one.
Jason Ellis ’09
Very cool enviro bottle guys! Hopefully it’ll take off. I am a big fan of Brita so this bottle will help out too.
Awesome idea guys. Starting a business that is eco conscious is a great service approach and a cool way to make money!
Roy Vongtama C 96
Awesome idea! Definitely will be having to get myself one!
Jason Ellis ’09
To add to my post, for going green I had the company I work for get rid of bottled water and we are now using washable cups/mugs instead.
I use reusable containers for my water but have never heard of this amazing technology coming together in one product. I throw fund raisers and events for numerous charities. Two of the charities that Be CA– USE Events works with are: Help For Orphans International and the JA Claremont Foundation (an orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti) I would love to figure out a way (if you are interested) to get some of these bottles into the hands of these children in need. And I’d love to promote the product at my events too.
What a cool idea!
I’m going green by opening the windows instead of using the a/c, using CFLs, and living on campus xD (Penn saves water by using low-flow shower heads and aerators on their faucets).
~Anthony Tran C ’13
Nice! Ever since the 3/6/7 plastics news scare, I’ve been trying to find an alternative to my nalgene. Can’t wait for this one.
I already religiously recycle papers and plastic (and take my colleagues plastic/glass home to recycle), wash clothes in cold and then line dry, and don’t drink bottled water.
Next up is to start using cotton rags instead of paper towels and my main goal is to use natural cleaning products – stop using harsh chemicals for house cleaning.
Thanks for highlighting this great work by Penn alumni and for the contest.
Happy Earth Day!