Dubai, UAE: Dubai Festival City Mall, part of Al-Futtaim Malls, partners with PepsiCo to install Aquafina® Water Stations throughout the mall, bringing a personalized, refreshing, and sustainable hydration experience to mall visitors.

As part of the partnership, Dubai Festival City Mall has installed five Aquafina Water Stations, in strategic locations across the space, allowing consumers to enjoy an innovative hydration experience while encouraging a culture of reuse and refill.  The Aquafina Water Station provides still and sparkling water in unflavoured as well as unsweetened flavoured water, including strawberry, lime, raspberry and lime, and peach. Consumers can customise the carbonation level, temperature, and intensity of each beverage, which will be nano-filtered. Each Aquafina Water Station shows users how many plastic bottles have been saved through the unit, demonstrating that small choices can make a big difference. 

For those seeking a refreshingly sustainable hydration experience, mall visitors can enjoy the Aquafina Water Stations by purchasing three or five refills via QR code cards available in vending machines next to each water station. Whether looking to refill their own reusable water bottles or to add to their collection, consumers can also purchase Aquafina reusable bottles from the vending machines.

Hayssam Hajjar, General Manager of Al-Futtaim Malls – UAE, said “We’re delighted to offer this new, upscale hydration option for our mall visitors, which we know will make their experience with us even more memorable. We’re also proud to offer refillable options that will cut down on single-use plastic waste, helping our visitors stay hydrated, and encourage water stewardship. Who said water couldn’t be personalized - I’ve never been so excited to drink my three litres per day!”

Commenting on the strategic partnership, Aamer Sheikh, Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo Middle East said: “At PepsiCo, we believe that sustainability is everyone’s responsibility, and we know that even small lifestyle changes can lead to a big impact. By installing our Aquafina Water Stations in Dubai Festival City Mall, we are making sustainable options more accessible and more enjoyable to shoppers, which encourages a long-term behaviour shift, into a culture of reuse and refill. We are proud to leverage the power of our brands to inspire people to make more positive choices for themselves and the planet and look forward to future initiatives, in partnership with Al-Futtaim Malls to drive long-lasting change.”

During Expo 2020 Dubai, 28 Aquafina® Water Stations helped save more than 500,000 plastic bottles. PepsiCo has committed to install 75 Aquafina Water Stations across the UAE this year, 50 of which are under the Dubai Can initiative, a sustainability initiative led by the Crown Prince of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, to minimize the global environmental impact by reducing the use of single-use plastics. Throughout the partnership with DET on Dubai Can, the Aquafina Water Stations helped save more than 390,000 plastic bottles since March 2022 to date.

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About Dubai Festival City Mall

Dubai Festival City Mall is one of the major shopping destinations in Dubai and the super-regional flagship mall in the Al-Futtaim Malls portfolio. With over 400 outlets, the mall is home to IKEA, renowned fashion brands like Zara, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Adidas and more.

The dining destination offers iconic waterfront dining on Festival Bay and comprises 50 restaurants and cafés and the largest food court in Dubai. The mall was the first to bring F&B concepts such as Origami, Oporto, Sugar Factory, Tortilla, a brand-new Rainforest Café, and the Middle East’s only Hard Rock Café to Dubai. The entertainment venue is also home to Fabyland, a 70,000 sq. ft. family entertainment centre, the world-first BOUNCE-X trampoline park and the record-breaking, global attraction IMAGINE. For more information visit: www.dubaifestivalcitymall.com

About Al-Futtaim Group

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail, and health; employing more than 33,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, we partner with over 200 of the world's most admired and innovative brands.

Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enable the organisation to continue to grow and expand, responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate. By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration, and integrity, Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers every day. For more information, visit: www.alfuttaim.com

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $79 billion in net revenue in 2021, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for the planet and the people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.