PLASTIC BOTTLES

 

Bottled water is in most cases a useless product which people in many countries have laugh upon until recently. Why pay for something you can get almost for free? Aggressive marketing campaigns have created a trend of drinking bottled water. Most of the smaller-sized (up to 1,5 litres) are made of PET plastics, which can be problematic from health- as well as environmental point of view. Let’s take a look at down sides (as well as rare upsides) of plastic water bottles.

 

 

 

Movie: The story of bottled water (click the picture)

 

More facts about bottle water are available at Bottled Water Myth Versus Reality.

 

 

DOWNSIDES OF BOTTLED WATER

 

HEALTH:

 

PET plastic (polietilen tereftalat – material that bottles are most often made of) leaches antimony which has been placed into the 2B group (meaning it can cause cancer) by the IARC (The International Agency for Research on Cancer) into water. Research showed that antimony leaches even stronger when bottles are exposed to high temperatures or/and when water is stored in PET for a longer period of time. Contrary to claims in different popular media PET does not leach BPA (bisphenol A). More...

 

ENVIRONMENT:

 

Plastic bottles have many direct and indirect negative consequences for the environment.

 

Energy consumption

Energy consumption due to drinking bottled water occurs in many phases of its production. Oil is used as a base material and energy (usually produced by burning fossil fuels) is used for bottle manufacturing, processing and bottling water as well as transportation in all life-cycle phases. Lots of burned energy for the same result, you get by only turning on the tap. When considering locally sold bottled water, bottle manufacture is the biggest source of energy consumption, but when water is transported to distant locations, transport ‘wins the prize’.

 

Carbon footprint

The size of carbon footprint is actually the result of energy spent to produce a unit of a product, in our case a plastic bottle. Plastic bottle’s footprint size is large, mainly due to energy intensity of its manufacturing process and transport as well as low efficiency of recycling plastics (in EU only 21,3 % of plastics gets recycled and 30 % burned for energy recovery[1]). Results from different analysis vary from 173 to 250 g of CO₂e per litre of water bottled in a plastic bottle, which is up to 6000 times more than the footprint of a litre of tap water. More...

 

Waste

An average EU citizen buys 104 l of bottled water per year[2]. Most of bottles are made of plastic which theoretically means more than 50 billion 1 l plastic bottles get sold in Europe wide per year. Taking into account data about efficiency of recycling and energy recovery (burning) almost 25 billion plastic bottles get landfilled or even worse, thrown away in natural environment, annually. More...

 

MONEY:

 

Prices of bottled and tap water vary throughout the EU and world. But the differences between both categories are enormous everywhere. In Slovenia for instance, bottled water is 274 to 2.695-times more expensive than tap water[3], in USA bottled water is 2.270-times[4] more expensive. This is a unique case of price premium for the same product – a success that bottled water industry’s marketing departments are probably proud of.

 

SOCIETY:

 

Bottled water industry is also often being accused of commercialisation and privatisation of a common good, which water is supposed to be. Many individuals and organisations throughout the world demand prohibition of water’s usage for the means of creating profit. Problems and conflicts have already taken place in some countries where water sources have been depleted or privatised. Documentary film Tapped discusses these problems. More...

 

BOTTLED WATER’S UPSIDES

 

CRYSIS AREAS:

 

Bottled water is the only source of water in some areas, stricken by natural disasters or other types of crisis (wars, nonexistant tap water...)

 

PLACES WITH LOW QUALITY TAP WATER:

 

There are of course areas, where tap water doesn’t satisfy sanitary criteria. If there are no other (health and environment friendlier) solutions to this problem, bottled water might be the only choice. In their report Freshwater in Europe[5], UNEP states that more than 10 % of EU residents drink potentially unsafe tap water.

 

CONVENIENCE:

 

Unfortunately, convenience is one of the main reasons people buy bottled water, although bottled water’s manufacturers would not admit it. We live in a dynamic society and an average person is extremely mobile on a typical day. Buying bottled water whenever we get thirsty is en easier solution for quenching our thirst because pouring tap water into reusable bottle requires some effort and planning. But awareness of all bottled water’s downsides should encourage us to overcome this ‘laziness’. ‘The return’ of drinking fountains and social movements which encourage drinking tap water could help as well.

 

We see that bottled water has some upsides as well. This is why our intention is not to oppose it generally but to decrease unnecessary and excessive buying of bottled water. It should be carrying out its basic function, which is supplying water to areas and in situations when it is the only choice. We do fight against mass production and consumption of bottled water as a direct consequence of manufactured demand, created by aggressive marketing. 

 

SOLUTIONS:

 

Reusable plastic bottles

 

Numerous drinking bottles are made of hard plastics. These do not leach antimony and are a better option than PET from environmental as well as financial point of view, because they encourage drinking tap water. However, it must still be emphasized that their manufacture is energy intense and recycling rates for plastic materials are relatively low. Recent scientific studies in USA showed that numerous types of bottles made of hard plastics leach bisphenol A (BPA), which ‘’has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals, and has been linked to cardivascular disease and diabetes in humans, among other things’’[6]. Since a lot of manufacturers ceased using BPA, which of course had to be replaced by some other chemical. BPS is one of the solutions which might not be any better than the BPA[7].

 

Reusable bottles made of aluminium or steel

 

Although metal industry is energy intense, we can say that reusable bottles made of metal are environmentally friendly. Especially aluminium has a very high recycling rate because of its price and physical characteristics. Theoretically it is possible to recycle aluminium infinitely. Since metal is sturdy it enables long life of the bottles and is this way environmentally and cost efficient. Some of the lower quality metal containers are cowered with a coating containing BPA (used as protection from corrosion)[8]. Most of the better known producers stopped using it after the already mentioned affair.

 

Glass bottles

 

A regular glass bottle can be great substitute for plastic bottles. It is environmentally friendly since it enables regular drinking of tap water and it can theoretically be infinitely recycled.[9] It is an inert material which has only a minimal interaction with water. The biggest problem with using regular glass bottles is that they can break. They are relatively fragile and have no extra protection from blows, so they are appropriate only for stationary usage and demand some caution when being handled.

 

Flaška bottles

 

Flaška bottle is our solution for medical, environmental, cost and social problems caused by bottled water. It is made of glass, which we have already identified as the most appropriate material for drinking water and can be recycled into products of same quality and/or function. It is encouraging drinking tap water and can help its owners lower their environmental footprint (less waste, less energy used, less carbon emitted). Flaška is equipped with a special sock which protects it from blows as well as water from sunlight and temperature influences. The new 0,5 l model is reinforced so the possibility of breakage is even lower. Thus Flaška bottles are suitable for active people and can be used during sports activities as well. But of course we have to be aware that it is still made of glass and can break in extreme situations. Its colourful protective sock also plays a role of a psychological trigger and ‘reminds’ us of drinking water. Flaška bottle’s added value is the fact it is informed. Informed water from Flaška has numerous positive characteristics which will help you drink more water of better quality!