So, with the water industry, in particular the bottled water industry under scrutiny and under pressure to do something about the negative impact it has on the environment, it is actively looking at ways to change this perception.
Bottled water became popular with the health-conscious crowd mainly due to tap water being sub-standard quality, and then quickly turned into a fad. Now we have millions of plastic water bottles being dumped into landfills all over the globe every year, and this is an environmental nightmare.
Apart from the pollution problem of empty and discarded battles, these plastic bottles also have a huge carbon footprint as they require a significant amount of energy during production and are then transported all over the globe, requiring more energy.
Well, the industry is trying to be innovative in coming up with alternatives, but is it enough? Let’s take a look at some of the ideas and the positives and negatives and see:
Bag-in-box (BIB)
Much like boxed wine, this is a bag of water in a box with a tap on it; one can either drink the water directly from the box or ‘plumb’ it into a water cooler and drink it chilled.
- Positives include the fact that the boxes are flat-packed until filled so require less delivery space; packaging is fully recyclable; and boxes are easier to store.
- Negatives include the fact that the packaging can quite easily break and most individuals will not want to store numerous boxes of water so it will require more transport to buy more often
Green Bottles
Green Planet is producing bottles that are made from 100% plant-based material, which is a great innovation.
- Positives include the fact that the bottles don’t leech any chemicals, can be reused, and are 100% recyclable and biodegradable; they decompose within 80 days.
- Negative – bottles still need to be transported and this can incur a large carbon footprint
The best alternative to bottled water as far as I am concerned is a Point of Use (POU) Water Cooler; they plumb directly into your main water supply and offer chilled, filtered, water. Some models offer ambient and hot water too. They are energy efficient and have a small carbon footprint and top of the range models require the most minimal amount of maintenance.
Hire water coolers and purchase water dispenser online from Living-Water. Get bottled water coolers, water coolers and mains fed water dispensers in London.
