HONOLULU — In between filming scenes for his new buddy cop movie, “The Wrecking Crew,” actor Jason Momoa stopped by the Twin Fin Resort in Waikiki on Monday to announce the relaunch of his water company Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water, which utilizes a machine that fills aluminum bottles with local, purified water and seals them.
When guests arrive at the Twin Fin, they are given a Mananalu aluminum water bottle with a reusable cap — instead of the usual plastic water bottles that await guests in their hotel room. Guests can refill the water bottle at “refill stations” throughout the hotel. When they check out of the hotel, guests leave the bottles at “recovery stands.” Then, a Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water machine at the Twin Fin sanitizes the bottle, fills it with purified water, and re-seals it with a new cap for the next guest.
The benefits of the closed-loop system include reducing the need to ship water bottles, avoiding single-use plastic, and keeping trash out of the landfill.
“I'm just trying to leave a better place for my children,” said Momoa in an interview with Spectrum News Hawaii. “I feel like I have a duty.”
The Aquaman actor has always been passionate about environmentalism, and he decided to use his voice to fight against single-use plastics. “I sunk my teeth into single-use plastic because I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Momoa originally launched Mananalu in 2019, selling aluminum bottled water to consumers through retailers like Costco and Whole Foods. “I had a bunch of roadblocks with Mananalu,” Momoa said, referring to the difficulty of distributing empty aluminum bottles and having them filled and sealed at different locations. Last year, Momoa teamed up with the founders of Boomerang Water, Jason Dibble and Jerrod Freund, who created the machines that fill the aluminum bottles on site.
The company plans to have up to 20 Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water machines installed at select locations across the state within the next 18 months, according to Freund. Along with placing the machines in hotels, they hope to install them on cruise ships, at convention centers, and in schools.
At least 300 bottles need to be bottled every day for the machine to be cost effective. However, Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water is also working with a Kapolei-based logistics company, Warehouse Solutions, that will run a delivery service, like a milkman, for local businesses that want to distribute less than 300 bottles a day.
In 2021, the bottled water industry was valued at $270 billion. It is one of the world’s fastest growing industries, with 73% growth in sales from 2010 to 2020, and it is projected to continue to grow. Over 97% of bottled water containers are made of plastic, creating major concerns about pollution, according to a report from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
“This is a fucking game changer,” Momoa said about being able to bottle the water on site in aluminum bottles. “It needs to be. We need to eliminate this waste.”
Currently, machines from Mananalu Powered by Boomerang are installed or will soon be set up at Romer House Waikiki, Kaimana Beach Hotel, Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach, Halekulani Hotel, Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. On Friday, the company will start distributing aluminum bottled water at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, and they hope to expand their operations to schools all over the state.
The design on the bottles is customizable, so each hotel or school can have a bottle that matches its brand. “Every hotel, every school, can have their colors (on a bottle). They can decorate what they want on there,” said Momoa.
The machines could also potentially be used in a disaster-relief situation or in a place like Flint, Michigan, where lead-contaminated water was widespread, because the source water is purified with reverse osmosis. The company created mobile machines that can be brought to any site.
“You could plug this into a puddle and you’ll be able to get potable water,” said Freund.
Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.