Two thousand reusable bottles distributed in two minutes

The most sought-after product on the Web Summit is not on a mobile screen or in an app and requires physical effort, as visitors group together at a certain time at a stand to collect reusable bottles.

“This zone ends up almost having more people than the central stage,” says Ana Agostinho, of the Mirpuri Foundation, while stretching out arms to guarantee a white or black bottle, with the symbol of the technological summit and the foundation.

“On average, for every two minutes, we are distributing around two thousand bottles,” the spokeswoman, who still does not have the accounts made about how many bottles were distributed, but reveals that they arrived at the International Fair of Lisbon (FIL ) about 50 thousand containers.

Thus, there were not enough bottles for the 70 thousand participants. “But maybe we should have brought them and they would have left them all,” said the official, who said she wanted to keep the partnership with the technological summit in the name of sustainability.

In an event where English is the official language, it can be said that this bottle has become a ‘must have’ and a ‘win-win’ case.

As Ana Agostinho explains, this bottle enables the foundation to pass the message of sustainability and make the event free of plastic. “And it’s good for all the people who end up becoming aware of this importance that is to refuse the plastic,” he added.

Rui Sebastião, from the human resources and development company HCEvolution, arrived at the Web Summit to assess trends and future trends but also became a bottle pretender.

“I had no idea that this existed until I saw a lot of people on Tuesday afternoon with the bottles and found that I could pick up an” in that stall. ”

But it was only on the fourth attempt, and after a 22-minute wait, that today he got a white bottle, which is “a funny souvenir in addition to the badge and the bracelet that lie outside.”

In English with a Brazilian accent from Minas Gerais, Marcus Aquenaton, who created a ‘startup’ of ‘capturing and retaining students for private universities’, arrived at FIL to “know about technology and innovation and what the world is proposing the next generations “.

Next, to the stand of the Mirpuri Foundation, the entrepreneur is doing “the pause for the bottle”, since it is a product made with “plastic materials taken from the seas, which has to do with sustainability”.

“I’m trying to get lucky, it’s going to be the first attempt [to get a bottle],” says the entrepreneur, while keeping a dozen people in line.

Also in Portuguese with an accent on the other side of the Atlantic, Marcelo Marinho, director of a hotel chain, arrived in Lisbon for the latest technology, sales and marketing, and also proved to follow the trend of sustainability.

We found him changing the water from a plastic bottle, which he “had been using for three days and was going to the recycling place” for the new bottle of Web Summit. “I’m happy,” he says.

“The bottle is pretty cool and it’s a reminder of the Web Summit, and I only got it today, on the third day, because every time I got here, there was no more, and today I understood that they deliver in the hour [ certain] and has limited numbers, and I’ve scheduled to be at 4:00 here, “he says.

Already without the summit volunteer t-shirt, five young people humorously tell that they have “joined the group of bottles”. And the reasons are for being “touring and helping the environment,” as João Borges says.

“It’s worth remembering and being useful,” added Hugo Soares.

On the second attempt, these computer engineering students from Porto reached the goal. He also counted on the help of the ‘word of mouth’ about the hours of distribution in conversations with other volunteers.