Sometimes, ya just gotta go ... without your washable, refillable, noncrushable, whatever water bottle.
So it’s worth noting that at least one water bottler has taken to heart all the concerns about the plastic used to make those bottles. Environmentalists don’t like the use of resources to make the plastic in the first place, and they say many bottles are never recycled. Instead, many end up in landfills or, worse, as litter.
Pepsico’s Aquafina has launched an “eco-Fina” bottle, which it contends is “the lightest half-liter bottle of any nationally distributed bottled brand in the market today.”
It weighs 10.9 grams and utilizes 50 percent less plastic than similar Aquafina packaging produced in 2002 and is estimated to eliminate the use of 75 million pounds of plastic annually, according to a company statement.
You can read the other environmental benefits they tout here.
The folks at Lighter Footstep checked it out, and here’s part of their report:
“... We were caught off-guard a few weeks ago when we were contacted by a public relations firm representing Aquafina, Pepsi’s bottled water brand. They asked if we’d be interested in receiving something about an upcoming product launch. The PR rep was very polite, so we thought it only fair to warn them that Lighter Footstep is the source of Five Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water, one of the web’s most commonly cited articles critical of bottled water. Whatever Aquafina was sending wasn’t likely to get a warm reception.
“...They’re actually a pretty snazzy bit of industrial design. The plastic is paper-thin through the body of the bottle. It would crush in your hand if it weren’t for a cleverly designed system of decorative ridges. These add enough strength to the container that it performs like a conventional bottle …
“So — does this make Aquafina’s new bottle eco-friendly? While no disposable plastic product will ever be truly sustainable, we’d be less than honest if we didn’t admit that the new Aquafina bottles are a step in the right direction.”
of course the plastic is only a small part of the problem. It is shipping this incredibly heavy stuff all over the county. Shipping Poland springs from Maine to a person in California and then a person in Maine buying water bottled in California! It is ridiculous... almost as bad as watching cars drive around in circles polluting the air and calling it fun.— extra velvet- Another attempt to delay the inevitable. Bottled water has only one use. Emergency water. A plastic bottle is still a plastic bottle and it is made to be WASTED. When are we going to get it. We can't keep wasting our resources. Remember when soda and beer came in returnable bottles? Wasn't that long ago and it wasn't that difficult to manage. When are we returning to that way?— el
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
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