The Message in a Bottle

There was a time when getting into the business of bottled water seemed like a very good idea. What other product can be obtained at 100p per litre, then packaged and sold for 10000 times as much? Consumers who didn’t like the taste of their tap water, or didn’t trust its safety, relied heavily upon bottled water. But as consumers have become more savvy, learning that much bottled water is simply filtered tap water, they are choosing to spend their money on reusable water bottles and better filtering. Independent retail analyst TNS Global reported a nine percent fall of sales of bottled water between April 2007 and April 2008.

Most recently, the trend has been toward reusable stainless steel and aluminum water bottles, or plastic ones free of Bisphenol A (BPA). Initially, it was parents who expressed concern about plastic containing BPA. However, as usage of water bottles is increasing, and more is learned about the effects of BPA, adults want to be sure their reusable bottles are free of the chemical as well.

Sales of stainless steel reusable bottles are on the rise. Stainless bottle maker Guyot Designs’ sales were 50 times as high in 2008 than just one year before. There is also increasing awareness of the liners used in aluminum bottles, which can leach harmful substances into the water as well. However, many still prefer aluminum, due to the weight of stainless steel. In any case, it seems the market is in hot pursuit of the perfect water bottle. There are even gradually-collapsing latex-lined leather bottles available!

That’s good news for consumers, those in the filtering business and for the environment, offering the promise of eliminating up to 1.5 million tons of empty bottles annually. Because, despite that bottled water plastic is in high demand by plastic recyclers, only 10-20 percent makes its way to them. Much of the other 80 percent swirls endlessly in the planet’s larger oceans, fatally tempting marine life and birds. Indeed, all bottled water flies in the face of the locavore movement, which urges consumers to consume locally grown and produced foods. Buying water that requires using millions of barrels of oil to create disposable containers for filtered water from a remote source, using more oil to power warehouses where it is stored, and yet even more to transport and distribute it, rather than filtering the very water running under one’s feet, yields claims of lunacy from today’s educated consumer. A 2006 study computed the bottled water industry in the UK as contributing around 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in transport alone each year. That’s as much as the energy used in 6,000 homes for that same year.

Most importantly, it is clear that tap water is the safest option where a municipal water supply is available. One study tested tap water in Bammental, Germany under three circumstances: when bottled commercially in food grade polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, when taken directly from the tap, and when taken from a natural spring. Of course, the lowest amounts of the poisonous element antimony were found in the water from the spring. The amount found in the bottled water was nearly six times the amount in the tap water. Multiple studies have found that, when PET bottled water is stored three to six months, the amount skyrockets, and that storage in heat and light further exacerbate leaching. This is problematic considering most consumers have no information about the transport and storage of the bottled water they purchase. Post-production shipping and storage of bottled water is generally not regulated. As further evidence of safety concerns, the high mineral content of some bottled water makes it inappropriate for babies and children. UK statutory regulations set standards for waters that wish to be specifically labeled as appropriate for mixing with infant formula. However, there is not yet a warning required on those that are not suitable.

References:

UK Food Safety Act 1990 Practice Guidance CHAPTER 3.9: BOTTLED WATERS

swellz.com

The New York Times: GEAR TEST WITH ERIC LINXWEILER, OUTDOORSMAN; Not Simply A Water Bottle, YISHANE LEE, November 6, 2008

EU COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 15 July 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the exploitation and marketing of natural mineral waters (80/777/EEC)(OJL229,30.8.1980,p.1) as amended

Bottled water sales dry up as London turns to tap, Lucy Hanbury, London Evening Standard, April 14, 2008