How The Tides Inn replaced single-use plastic with 28,000 custom water bottles

The Tides Inn, a five-star waterfront resort on Chesapeake Bay in Irvington, Virginia, replaced disposable plastic water bottles across its property with a fully custom-engraved reusable bottle from Join the Pipe. Since 2022 the resort has ordered over 28,000 custom branded bottles across two production runs, plus three Street Tap refill stations. It's one of Join the Pipe's larger single-client hospitality orders.

A bottle designed for one property

Unlike Join the Pipe's off-the-shelf city designs, The Tides Inn commissioned its own single-sided mould: a great blue heron standing in marsh reeds, engraved above the resort's script wordmark. The heron is a signature bird along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline the resort sits on, so the bottle reads more like a piece of the property than a generic amenity. The mould was a one-time tooling cost, paired with the 4-piece bottle (an extra drink cap plus a coloured carrier ring, here in "Deep Sea," a teal that echoes the bay) for a more premium in-room and retail item than the standard 2-piece bottle.

The order, in numbers

The Tides Inn placed its first order in 2022: 10,000 bottles, plus three Street Tap refill stations for guest and staff areas. It returned in 2024 for a second run of roughly 18,900 more. That's over 28,000 custom bottles in total, each carrying the same heron engraving and colour ring so every reorder still looks like the first one.

Why a resort orders reusable bottles at this scale

A five-star property goes through a lot of single-use plastic: guest rooms, pool and beach service, event catering. Swapping that for a branded reusable bottle turns a recurring waste stream into a keepsake guests actually take home, while the Street Taps give housekeeping and F&B staff a fast refill point instead of hauling cases of bottled water. The bottles are made from 99% sugarcane bioplastic, CO2-negative to produce, 100% BPA-free, and dishwasher-safe to 65°C. They're food-contact compliant under EU EC 10/2011, and built to survive years of daily reuse rather than one stay.

The bigger picture

Every Join the Pipe bottle sold funds one donated to a child without reliable access to clean water: one sold, one given, no multiplier claimed beyond that. On a resort-scale order like this one, the same purchase that outfits guest rooms also extends the foundation's reach, the same model behind Join the Pipe's other hospitality partnerships.

Ordering a custom mould for your own property

A single-sided custom mould (logo or artwork on one face of the bottle) starts at €4,000, with a minimum order of 4,140 bottles and a lead time of 2 to 3 months. It becomes cost-efficient per bottle from roughly 25,000 to 30,000 pieces onward, which is about where The Tides Inn's order lands. Below that volume, printing (screen print or full-colour digital) on a standard city or model bottle is the faster, lower-commitment route. Request a quote to start a custom mould or printed-bottle order.