Alternatives to Traditional Plastic Water Bottles
CMNS 112
Distribution of Drinking Water: Alternatives to Traditional Plastic Water Bottles
Bottled water is readily available just about anywhere you go for a low price and a high level of convenience. Recently, bottled water has been put under a microscope as an industry which is unnecessarily wasteful and inefficient when clean tap water is available in many first world countries. Many different solutions and alternatives have been proposed including: bottled water bans, production of plastics made from resources other than oil, and filtration systems for refilling stations. Each proposed solution presents a different set of positive and negative attributes, so to progress towards the goal of a more sustainable system of distributing water, it is imperative that the positive attributes of each alternative are embraced and built upon.
Despite having strict regulations for drinking water quality in the taps of many Canadian cities, the demand for bottled water has been constantly increasing, “Twenty years ago in Canada, bottled water was largely unheard of. Today approximately 20% of our population relies exclusively on bottled waters for their daily hydration” (Trottier, Ferguson, & Cook, 2009). What is the cause of this trend? Marketing from the companies producing bottled water has turned the plastic containing gold from a “why would I pay for that” into an “I guess that 's worth paying for” thought process. Such companies tend to portray bottled water as coming from remote, pristine sources such as Fiji or a glacial lake tucked between some snow capped mountains, implying a higher quality of water than from the tap. The simple convenience of grabbing a single use bottle of high quality water for some pocket change when thirsty is undoubtedly attractive and is what I would consider to be the biggest factor in the popularity of bottled water but the
Distribution of Drinking Water: Alternatives to Traditional Plastic Water Bottles
Bottled water is readily available just about anywhere you go for a low price and a high level of convenience. Recently, bottled water has been put under a microscope as an industry which is unnecessarily wasteful and inefficient when clean tap water is available in many first world countries. Many different solutions and alternatives have been proposed including: bottled water bans, production of plastics made from resources other than oil, and filtration systems for refilling stations. Each proposed solution presents a different set of positive and negative attributes, so to progress towards the goal of a more sustainable system of distributing water, it is imperative that the positive attributes of each alternative are embraced and built upon.
Despite having strict regulations for drinking water quality in the taps of many Canadian cities, the demand for bottled water has been constantly increasing, “Twenty years ago in Canada, bottled water was largely unheard of. Today approximately 20% of our population relies exclusively on bottled waters for their daily hydration” (Trottier, Ferguson, & Cook, 2009). What is the cause of this trend? Marketing from the companies producing bottled water has turned the plastic containing gold from a “why would I pay for that” into an “I guess that 's worth paying for” thought process. Such companies tend to portray bottled water as coming from remote, pristine sources such as Fiji or a glacial lake tucked between some snow capped mountains, implying a higher quality of water than from the tap. The simple convenience of grabbing a single use bottle of high quality water for some pocket change when thirsty is undoubtedly attractive and is what I would consider to be the biggest factor in the popularity of bottled water but the
References: Al-Saleh, I., Shinwari, N., & Alsabbaheen, A. (2011). Phthalates residues in plastic bottled waters. Journal Of Toxicological Sciences, 36(4), 469-478. Carlson, S. (2010). Thinking outside the bottle. (Cover story). Chronicle Of Higher Education, 57(6), A1-A12 Mülhaupt, R. (2013). Green polymer chemistry and bio-based plastics: Dreams and reality. Macromolecular Chemistry And Physics, Basel, (2), 159. Pacific Institute. (2007). Bottled water and energy fact sheet. http://www.pacinst.org/publication/bottled-water-and-energy-a-fact-sheet/ Trottier, C., Ferguson, P., & Cook, V. (2009). Murky waters: the urgent need for health and environmental regulations of the bottled water industry. Polaris Institute. pg 6. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/okanagan/Doc?id=10325558&ppg=7