Rethinking Water in Hospitality: How Iyer Water is Eliminating Single-Use Bottles in Bali and Beyond
“Luxury and sustainability don’t have to be at odds.”
That belief drives Floris Graziosi, Dutch-Italian entrepreneur and founder of Iyer Water, a Bali-based company on a mission to transform how hotels and restaurants serve something as simple, yet essential, as water.
From Landfills to Innovation
Floris’ journey began with a confronting image: children playing and cows grazing on a vast landfill outside Jakarta. That experience sparked a lifelong question—how can we do better? Years later, the answer came through tackling one of hospitality’s most wasteful practices: shipping billions of single-use plastic and glass water bottles across the globe.
“In Indonesia, there’s no shortage of water,” Floris explained. “What we lack are sustainable systems to purify and serve it.”
The Iyer Water Solution
Instead of importing bottled water from Europe or producing mountains of plastic waste, Iyer Water installs on-site purification and bottling systems directly into hotels and restaurants. Their approach combines:
Advanced purification and refrigeration for safe, premium drinking water.
Reusable, scratch-resistant glass bottles designed for constant washing and refilling.
Beer tap–style dispensing systems for still and sparkling water on demand.
The result? Hotels can eliminate 20,000 single-use bottles per month on average, cutting waste, costs, and emissions—without compromising luxury.
Breaking the Myths Around Safety
One challenge Floris faced was skepticism: could Indonesian tap water ever meet global hospitality standards? His answer was to partner with independent labs and prove that Iyer’s system consistently delivers premium-grade drinking water. Guests never have to ask, “Is this safe?”—they simply enjoy still or sparkling water, elegantly served.
Why It Matters for Hospitality
The environmental cost of bottled water is staggering: producing one liter of bottled water can require up to three liters of source water. Add the emissions from global logistics, and the footprint grows even larger. By bringing purification on-site, Iyer Water:
Reduces plastic and glass waste.
Cuts supply chain emissions.
Saves hotels money from day one through a leasing and maintenance model.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Water Innovation
Floris sees huge opportunities in integrating Iyer’s systems from the ground up in new hotel builds, rather than replacing bottled water later. With major hospitality groups already in talks, he envisions a future where premium water is local, sustainable, and endlessly refillable.
As he put it: “Responsible business can only be sustainable business. There’s no contradiction.”
Listen to the full episode.
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