Jon Olafsson, Chairman of Icelandic Water Holdings, this morning broke ground for a new 6,600 square meter bottling facility in Thorlakshofn, Iceland.
The first part of the factory is to be ready in Q3 2008 and will have capacity to bottle one hundred million liters of water every year, providing employment for 35-40 people. The increase will constitute a fourfold increase in production, with further capacity increases planned in the years ahead.
The new factory has been designed with an advanced energy saving system and measures have also been taken to minimize all effects on nature during the construction. This further builds on Icelandic Water Holdings green credentials which have been recognised by their recent awarding of its CarbonNeutral® Certification from leading climate change company, The CarbonNeutral Company.
Icelandic Water Holdings is one of the first bottled water companies to receive this acknowledgement, which has been awarded following its demonstrated commitment to its ongoing efforts to continually measure and reduce its carbon emissions and offset any remaining environmental impact that contributes to global warming.
Jon Olafsson, Chairman of Icelandic Water Holdings (pictured above with the Mayor of Olfus, Olafur Aki Ragnarsson) commented, 'This has been a great day in the history of the company. There has been a lot of preparation work behind all of this and we have made significant steps in both production and marketing'.
'We are convinced that the work we have already put into Icelandic Glacial is a good foundation for the powerful operation that is planned in this new factory and hope that significant development can further build on the green credentials of the community of Olfus'.