The Join the Pipe Africa bottle is a reusable water bottle made from 99% sugarcane plastic. Every one sold funds a matching donation: a bottle for a schoolchild in Africa, or, when it's a tap, a school refill station or a BluePump well.
What the bottle is actually made of
The Africa bottle is bio-based "green PE," chemically identical to regular HDPE but derived from sugarcane instead of oil, and it's fully recyclable. Braskem certifies it under the "I'm green" mark, and the material is CO2-negative across its lifecycle, meaning growing the sugarcane absorbs more carbon than making and shipping the bottle releases. It meets the EU's EC 10/2011 food-contact standard, contains no BPA, and survives a dishwasher up to 65°C. A 500 ml bottle weighs about 30 grams.
Where the money from a bottle actually goes
Buying an Africa bottle isn't a one-off purchase. Join the Pipe runs on a Buy One Give One model: for every bottle sold, one gets donated to a schoolchild in Africa. Buy a tap, and the purchase helps fund a school refill station or a BluePump well instead.
Join the Pipe is also a registered Dutch ANBI foundation, which means all donations go straight to water projects, with operating costs covered separately. That's not an abstract claim. In Kenya, the foundation ran a clean-up initiative in Nairobi and, together with the International Tennis Federation, built an award-winning "Water Kiosk at School." A €500,000 grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery is funding further work in Siaya County. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, bottles have gone directly into school distribution programmes. In Sierra Leone, 3,000 bottles were sent as relief supplies. There's also an ongoing community initiative in Burkina Faso.
The pump behind the well
When a project needs a well instead of a tap, Join the Pipe uses the BluePump, built to reach depths of up to 100 metres and run maintenance-free for around five years. The foundation calls the pairing "Bottles & Pumps": bottle sales on one end, wells and pumps going into the ground on the other.
Sugarcane bottle versus a standard plastic souvenir bottle
| Africa bottle (sugarcane) | Typical imported plastic bottle | |
|---|---|---|
| Material source | 99% sugarcane, Braskem-certified | Petroleum-based plastic |
| Lifecycle carbon | CO2-negative | Net carbon-positive |
| Food-contact compliance | EC 10/2011, BPA-free | Varies, often unverified |
| What your purchase funds | A donated bottle or well, tracked through an ANBI foundation | Nothing beyond the sale |
Picking a size
The Africa bottle comes in 0.5 L and 1.0 L. The 0.5 L is the standard daily-carry size; the 1.0 L suits longer days out or anyone who'd rather refill less often. Both are available in the standard 2-piece build or the 4-piece "luxury" version, which adds a second drink cap and a coloured carrier ring.
Custom-branded Africa bottles for companies
Companies ordering for events, CSR programmes, or client gifts can print their own logo on the Africa bottle from a minimum order of 100 units, using screen print (1 to 3 Pantone colours) or full-colour digital printing. Production runs about 10 to 15 working days after artwork approval. B2B pricing sits well below the retail price shown on the webshop; request a quote for the current per-piece rate.
A few questions people ask
Is the sugarcane plastic actually safe for drinking water? Yes. It's certified food-contact safe under EU regulation EC 10/2011 and contains no BPA.
How does buying one bottle help someone in Africa? Each purchase triggers a matching donation under the Buy One Give One programme: a bottle for a schoolchild, or, for taps, funding toward a school refill station or BluePump well, with 100% of donations reaching the projects through the ANBI foundation structure.
Can I get the Africa bottle with my company's logo? Yes, from a minimum order of 100 printed units. See the branded bottles collection or request a quote directly.