Buy a bottle!
Jul. 3rd, 2010 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blamebramptonAs a genteel environmentalist, I am sometimes accused of wanting to destroy industry. Nothing could be further from the truth, as I could not live without my stompy boots and red lipsticks, which industry provides reliably. But there are a few industries that I think we could happily do without*. The major one of these is bottled water.
I loathe the stuff. It uses an enormous amount of precious water to make bottles that are most often single-use, then fills them up with H2O that is usually no better than what I can get from my tap (and in some cases IS what I get from my tap), then carts them about the countryside using up more water and fuel, then the empties end up scattered about public areas like the square outside my house, or floating in the sea.
Today I have been thinking about it more than usual as I was incensed by this story. Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands of NSW banned bottled water a year ago and instead put in more council taps and bubblers. Rather than needing to pay a few dollars per bottle to satisfy their thirst, people could stop at a bubbler, or refill their own bottles at a council tap.
In response, the bottled water companies (Coca-Cola Amatil being the main one in Australia) have launched campaigns on Facebook and YouTube to accuse Bundanoon of 'a PR spin campaign'.
How does that make sense? Bundanoon has done the sensible thing of providing locals with free, clean water when they're out and about. Would that more of Australia did likewise! Out in the country it's usually pretty easy to fill up a bottle, but in Sydney it's nearly impossible – unlike much of Europe where public taps and fountains are still commonplace. I have been forced to buy bottled water on a few occasions because I couldn't find a tap with potable water. In a first world city!
The bottled water industry says that it is just providing a healthy option: and I fully agree that bottled water is better than sugary fizz. However, in almost all of the developed world, tap water in your own bottle is a cheaper, more eco-friendly, and every bit as healthy an option. And for people whose water tastes as manky as Adelaide's, home filters provide an economically sensible option.
As for bottles, I love my Siggs, but there are a load of other good re-usable options available from most department and camping shops. Old glass bottles make good refillable options at home, and you can keep a few in the fridge.
* And for anyone happy to make a case that indicates I am necessarily against capitalism, I point you to the thriving legal opium trade of the 19th century, which was destroyed via successive legal edicts. Public good often outweighs corporate desire, and I think this is one of the cases where it should. And now off to write to Clover Moore and ask her where all the taps are.
I loathe the stuff. It uses an enormous amount of precious water to make bottles that are most often single-use, then fills them up with H2O that is usually no better than what I can get from my tap (and in some cases IS what I get from my tap), then carts them about the countryside using up more water and fuel, then the empties end up scattered about public areas like the square outside my house, or floating in the sea.
Today I have been thinking about it more than usual as I was incensed by this story. Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands of NSW banned bottled water a year ago and instead put in more council taps and bubblers. Rather than needing to pay a few dollars per bottle to satisfy their thirst, people could stop at a bubbler, or refill their own bottles at a council tap.
In response, the bottled water companies (Coca-Cola Amatil being the main one in Australia) have launched campaigns on Facebook and YouTube to accuse Bundanoon of 'a PR spin campaign'.
How does that make sense? Bundanoon has done the sensible thing of providing locals with free, clean water when they're out and about. Would that more of Australia did likewise! Out in the country it's usually pretty easy to fill up a bottle, but in Sydney it's nearly impossible – unlike much of Europe where public taps and fountains are still commonplace. I have been forced to buy bottled water on a few occasions because I couldn't find a tap with potable water. In a first world city!
The bottled water industry says that it is just providing a healthy option: and I fully agree that bottled water is better than sugary fizz. However, in almost all of the developed world, tap water in your own bottle is a cheaper, more eco-friendly, and every bit as healthy an option. And for people whose water tastes as manky as Adelaide's, home filters provide an economically sensible option.
As for bottles, I love my Siggs, but there are a load of other good re-usable options available from most department and camping shops. Old glass bottles make good refillable options at home, and you can keep a few in the fridge.
* And for anyone happy to make a case that indicates I am necessarily against capitalism, I point you to the thriving legal opium trade of the 19th century, which was destroyed via successive legal edicts. Public good often outweighs corporate desire, and I think this is one of the cases where it should. And now off to write to Clover Moore and ask her where all the taps are.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 09:34 am (UTC)I am with you on the water. We have about 30 reusable plastic bottles in our house and I do not think tap water taste's any different than bottled water. I am lucky not to live in Adelaide though, where water needs to be boiled about 3 times before it is fit for human consumption. (that is if you do not have a filter.)
For the sake of full disclosure I do drink either bottled or boiled/filtered water when on holidays just because it was instilled in me that your body can react badly to local water 'issues' if you are not used to them.
Oh and I also reuse juice bottles to refill them with water after sterilising/washing them out thoroughly.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 09:44 am (UTC)I've heard the holiday water 'rule', but I have to say that having travelled much of the world, there are only a few places in the developed world where I would not drink the tap water, and they are all quite famous (like Adelaide). The bacteria and other microfauna in public water supplies are all monitored and filtered down to similar levels. You're far more likely to get sick from being on the plane or train in confined spaces next to someone with a virus!
Hurrah for reusing!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 10:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 10:18 am (UTC)Yeah, I think it's reasonable in places where you can't trust the water. Though even then I tend to buy the big 10L sizes at reputable shops and fill my own bottle -- more economical, less packaging, and you can't always trust the small bottles at roadside vendors.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 10:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 10:39 am (UTC)