Dedicated to Mom and Dad...
I thought I should share some of the reasons why there is a push to ban plastic water bottles - those found at convenience stores, grocery stores...
e.g. MontClaire & Arrowhead (owned by Nestle), Dasani (owned by Coca-cola)...
*Action for this change is at the bottom of this article... Make the Change!
There are three factors when considering the impact of bottled water: Social Impact, Health Impact and Environmental Impact...
Social Impact:
The commoditization of water is a social injustice - water is not a commodity, it is a right. By supporting the privatization of water, is that not taking away the rights of others? In addition to the social justice issues around bottling and re-selling our water (the water we already pay for in our taxes - so you pay for it twice, and much more the second time) for more than gasoline costs, we all pay the price in carbon emissions, depletion of natural water sources from water extraction plants, environmental impact from water bottle plants, increased plastic in landfills, even in the unnecessary costs (financial and environmental) of recycling those bottles that do manage to make it to a recycling plant. All because someone is too lazy to use a glass or reusable travel container?-Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water
Environmental Impact:
- 'a Swedish study calculated that the environmental impact of bottled water was up to 1,000 times greater than tap water, and could be higher.'
-5 Litres of waters are required to make 1 Litre of Bottled Water
-"Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil" -Tree Hugger
-water extraction has lead to water shortages that affect nearby consumers, farmers and wildlife
-"two gallons of water are wasted in the purification process for every gallon that goes into the bottles" - Tree Hugger
Health Impact:
There is much debate over leaching xenoestrogens in plastic bottles - single serving plastic water bottles (like the ones appointed to be banned) do not contain BPA
"Plastics are ubiquitous. I don't believe that plastics are not involved in a great deal of the health problems that we face today." - David Suzuki
Environmental and Health Impacts are inseparable - what affects one so does the other...
Conclusion:
The hidden costs of this bottle of water seems disproportionate to the benefit (convenience) of this product.
F.Y.I
London, Ontario has been phasing out plastic water bottles since September 2008
Plastic water bottle bans have gone hand in hand with plastic bag bans in cities across the globe (watch for this relationship in Ontario)
San Francisco and Seattle had plastic water bottle bans implemented in 2007
Toronto City Council voted to ban the sale of plastic water bottles on all municipal premises from City Hall to golf courses by 2011 (Dec 2008) -Canada.com
Interested in this topic? Check out these resources...
http://ukagainstfluoride.blogspot.com/2008/12/canada-toronto-bans-bottled-water-sales.html (*this is my favorite for his candid opinions and he makes some good points about being forced to drink chlorinated/fluoridated water with bottled spring water bans)
http://lawiscool.com/2008/08/21/water-bottle-ban-on-the-horizon/comment-page-1/#comment-4674
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3378791.ece
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=1027243
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/reasons_to_ditch_bottled_water.php
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2007/02/01/suzuki-water.html
Action
How you can make the change...
Purchase a reusable water bottle, there are many available at a variety of price points
Practice bringing it with you everywhere - everyday
It will take some time for this behaviour to habituate - but keep going, the more you use your water bottle, the stronger habit it will become, and you will forget the days you spent $3 for a litre of water
The math:
1 bottle of single serving water bottle a day average $2
1 week = $14
1 month = $60
1 Year = $728
1 Reusable Water Bottle = $20
2 Spare Bottles = $40
Total Annual Cost of Reusable Bottles = $60
You just saved $668
I Dont Like Tap Water...
Buy a filter.... price-point starts at $10/ month
Still a savings of $558 in a year
In ten years you will save = $5,580
We want o hear from you - how did you make the change? Share tips and tricks on this action!
email
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(subject line: Water Bottle Action, Tips, & Tricks)
Comments:
I don’t know if people need this clarification or not, but in your info about water bottles it might be worth changing the “plastic water bottles” to “disposable plastic water bottles” because some people have reusable plastic water bottles and that isn’t what is being banned…. So far as I know.
And if people are phasing them out it will become more important that there are public sources of water accessible to people—water fountains, stations where they can refill their water bottles. The challenge of reusable bottles is that, especially in summer, they empty quickly and if you are out for the day with no public place to refill, you are stuck buying water. Phasing them out needs to go hand in hand with creating more public sources of water. Just something to think about. I was going to write to that effect to John Taylor so he can keep that in mind in his discussions with York Region. And the other thing people don’t know is that most beverages you buy---are made using water which may be privatized or may be “taken” from other places. For instance, in that movie “Flow” which I highly recommend, Coke had a plant in India . It used up the local water source to make Coke and in doing so also contaminated the local sources for residents while also putting toxic waste into their environment (I don’t’ remember the details). A 2-year long sit in (if I remember correctly) finally resulted in Coke moving out of that community but they went somewhere else and probably did the same thing. People need to know what companies are using public water, or buying rights to public water, to make beverages. That water is GONE from that community for good—displaced in many cases to other states, provinces, countries or continents. I may have a few details incorrect here but it is truly mind boggling. Even juice would be that way if it says “made from concentrate” on the bottle. The practices of these companies need to be looked into.
-LCH Feb 5, 2009
Trailer for Flow (2008)