How water from a tin became a billion pound business: Brands like Cano Water and Liquid Death are soaring with environmentally conscious Gen Z with a lot of famous faces – including David Attenborough – backing them

Drinking water from a tin has become a ‘new obsession’ for millions of Brits who have helped to make canned water a multi-million pound industry.

With plastic bottles, which are bad for the environment,  going out of favour aluminium can has now also become the go-to vessel for drinking water – with the likes of Evian leaping on the trend.

Eight years ago, pioneering canned H20 company, Cano Water, first launched the novel tinned beverage that has now become a supermarket fridge staple – with the likes of Tesco, Ocado and Wholefoods now stocking it.

Inspired by the move towards aluminium stored beverages, a flurry have new and existing brands have rushed to produce their own version of canned aqua to appease growing thirst for sustainable packaging. 

 There is also celebrity backing in the brands, with David Attenborough and Ricky Gervais both making investments.  

Beverage companies, restaurants and coffee outlets across the nation are joining in on the trend, sourcing their own tinned aqua. 

Though storing water in cans in nothing new historically speaking. During the Second World War, the American government manufactured canned water for use as emergency drinking water.

Just eight years ago, pioneering canned H20 company, Cano Water, (pictured) first launched the novel tinned beverage that has now become a supermarket fridge staple – with the likes of Tesco , Ocado and Wholefoods now stocking it

Once reserved for beers, fizzy drinks and all manner of nitro infused cocktail tins, the aluminium can has now also become the go-to vessel for drinking water – with the likes of Evian leaping on the trend

In 2019, in was reported that the sale of canned water had increased fivefold over the previous year, with growing fears around plastic pollution driving the switch to tinned refreshments.

Cans are reportedly one of the most sustainable methods for producing drinks since the material used is ‘infinitely recyclable’. 

Last year, the UK brand Cano, received backing from the comedian, Ricky Gervais, as well as ‘multi-seven-figure’ investment in funding. 

Cano Water – which has now received backing from a number of celebrities including David Gandy and Dougie Poynter and has partnered with Virgin Atlantic – was world’s first ever canned water company when it arrived on the scene in 2015.

Last year, the canned water company reported £5 million in revenue last year and have received backing from environmentally-conscious broadcaster, David Attenborough. 

The minimalist designed cans have become a recognisable fridge beverage and are now stocked in Tesco, Wholefoods, Ocado, as well as having previously been served at the Oscars and London Fashion Week.  

Though the brand had a rocky beginning – despite their booming success. 

Co-founder of Cano Water and former DJ, Josh White, told Just Drinks that the brand had seen an ‘incredible shift’ in perception since the brand was first born eight years ago, adding that ‘people thought we were crazy as they had never seen water in a can before.’

Co-founder of Cano Water and former DJ, Josh White, told Just Drinks that the brand had seen an ‘incredible shift’ in perception since the brand was first born eight years ago, adding that ‘people thought we were crazy as they had never seen water in a can before’

Once reserved for beers, fizzy drinks and all manner of nitro infused cocktail tins, the aluminium can has now also become the go-to vessel for drinking water – with the likes of Evian leaping on the trend

‘As time has gone on, with more press around plastic being bad for the planet and for our health, people have started doing their own research into better alternatives and have landed at the same conclusion as us all those years ago – that cans are a much better alternative to plastic when it comes to recyclability,’ he told the publication.

The former DJ told Yahoo! Finance that UK fridge shelves are far from seeing the last from canned water.

‘The world will be predominately cans in the next 10 years. It’s about the shift and putting purpose before profit,’ he said.

And it’s not just limited to mere still or sparkling. Canned water has grown exponentially in recent years with brands coining in on the trend and expanding the flavoured and fizzy versions of tinned water.  

In 2022, the canned water company, Dash, raised £8.7m to set up their business, selling largely flavoured sparkling beverages. Transatlantic investor, Beringea, who previously backed UK non-alcohol beer brand Lucky Saint, led to backing.

The canned water company was first created in 2017 by Alex Wright and Jack Scott, with the mission of creating a sparkling fruit flavoured seltzer.

The seltzer company, who use ‘wonky’ fruits to flavour their drinks, have ‘to keep raising awareness about food waste’. Dash offer multiple flavours for still water skeptics, including a cucumber and mint, raspberry, lime, and orange flavours.

Dash now sell 26 millions cans across the nation, despite founders revealing they were also initially apprehensive. ‘People thought were mad,’ shared co-founder Alex.

Cano Water – which has now received backing from a number of celebrities including David Gandy and Dougie Poynter and has partnered with Virgin Atlantic – was world’s first ever canned water company when it arrived on the scene in 2015

The famously named Liquid Death canned beverage, announced a ‘triple digit growth’ for the third year in a row, earlier this year

Dash is not the first of its kind. Others have similarly been jumping onto canned water by creating flavoured water beverages.

The famously named Liquid Death canned beverage, announced a ‘triple digit growth’ for the third year in a row, earlier this year.

The sparkling beverage, which comes in shiny gold and silver cans with gothic calligraphy, has caught global acclaim for it’s unusual branding but simple fruit flavoured liquid.

CEO Mike Cessario said: ‘So much of the branding in the bottled water category has revolved around the purity of the water, superior levels of hydration, etc. Liquid Death took off because it subverted all the tropes of bottled water marketing that we’re familiar with.’ 

The brand revealed it had raked in $263 million (£208 million) in global sales at 113,000 US and UK outlets. 

Founded in 2017, the brand is now a cult classic among gen z, who make up a large portion of their sales with 70 per cent of their customers either gen z or millennials. 

Speaking about the recent transition from plastic to can, CEO of the company commented: ‘Putting still mountain water in cans was strange for some people at first because we’ve all been conditioned to drink water from plastic bottles’

Inspired by the move towards aluminium stored beverages, a flurry have new and existing brands have rushed to produce their own version of canned aqua to appease growing thirst for sustainable packaging (Dash Water pictured)

In 2022, the canned water company, Dash, raised £8.7m to set up their business, selling largely flavoured sparkling beverages. Transatlantic investor, Beringea, who previously backed UK non-alcohol beer brand Lucky Saint, led to backing

The brand was even endorsed by Gossip Girl star, Chase Crawford earlier this year. 

Liquid Death has become a household name over the last year after hitting the shelves in Tesco, Nisa and Coop. 

Speaking about the recent transition from plastic to can, CEO of the company commented: ‘Putting still mountain water in cans was strange for some people at first because we’ve all been conditioned to drink water from plastic bottles. 

‘But for other beverages like beer, no one prefers to drink beer from a plastic bottle. So once people tried it and understood our ‘death to plastic’ mission with aluminium being infinitely recyclable, people really connected with the brand.’ 

Even water brands who have typically bottled water in plastic, have been turning toward aluminium.

The British chain bakery, Gail’s recently began stocking a sustainable boxed water with their Carton water, which describes itself as ‘Lighter on the planet’. They also sell glass bottles of aqua. 

In 2021, the French brand Evian, released a new range of ‘function flavoured water’, introducing a range of sweet canned beverages.

A year later, the popular aqua brand launched another canned beverage in the shape of a sparkling water tin.

VP of Marketing at Evian, Shweta Harit said at the time: ‘Available for the first time in recyclable aluminium cans, this latest innovation demonstrates our longstanding pioneering spirit that runs through everything we do at evian.’