Movies, Books, Politicians the Water Bottle is Under Siege
Take a plastic water bottle to your own demise; the sway of public opinion is coming back down on you. From big rating documentaries, to the written word and political debate, the hottest debate in town is the horror around bottled water and the waste that the industry forces.
The processing, moving and removal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles requires tremendous waste of water alongside energy, and produces tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases and waste.
Director of the upcoming documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig says “1500 water bottles end up in landfill every second – that’s 30 million water bottles a day! We wanted to show people just how much waste is generated by bottled water.” The Tapped crew are publicizing the show with an across-America roadshow, receiving money from Americans to take down their water bottle waste and taking their used plastic water bottle in exchange for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.
Another short film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. Created by Annie Leonard of the critically acclaimed ‘The Story of Stuff’, this new film delves into the process that is used to convincing Americans into purchasing more than five hundred million bottles of water a week, despite the option of a few cents cost for tapwater. Find her short film on You Tube.
Through her book ‘Bottlemania’, author Elizabeth Royte demonstrates one of the monumental marketing cons of the twentieth century and gives a strong environmental wakeup call. She details the questions we must inevitably deal with. Who has ownership of the water? What could happen when a bottled-water corporation seizes your town’s drinking water? Is the water that comes out of a tap absolutely safe? What is really the environmental price of making, transporting and waste of every plastic water bottle?
Politicians all around the world are acknowledging that they are required to do something – especially when the buildings where they work are high consumers of bottled water. How often do we observe a politician in a debate drinking from a water bottle. It is probable that they must be able to find a water glass in Parliament House.
Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, stated “Cities and states are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on bottled water, and that’s not to mention what’s spent to deal with all the plastic bottles that are thrown out.”
In July 2009, the NSW rural town of Bundanoon became the first group in Australia to prohibited the sale of bottled water. At least 60 townships in the US and some cities in Canada and the UK have now prevented spending taxpayer money on bottled water.
No doubt these problems will be discussed come World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the environment’s most time-sensitive water-related dilemmas.
Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.
Sphere: Related ContentWater Bottles Need to be Clean to be Safe: How to Clean Your Water Bottle
You are doing the right thing for the planet by filling up at home and carrying a reusable water bottle and you’ve chosen a safe, non-toxic bottle-but if it’s not kept clean then it may not be healthy.
Whether your drink bottle is a stainless steel bottle, SIGG bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming in the bottle.
Wash your drink bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off every day where possible.
Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean water bottle with Distilled White Vinegar and let it soak for 24 hours. Then rinse with warm water mixed with one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), rinse out and let dry. Spots inside the bottle that look like “corrosion” are most likely a mineral deposit.
Fill your bottle with filtered water wherever possible. It tastes so much better, but also because water contains different minerals in every area this may affect what happens inside your bottle.
Do not allow liquids such as fruit juice to ferment inside the bottle.
With all reusable water bottles you can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and a specially-designed SIGG bottle cleaning brush, or simply a baby bottle brush. Only ever use a soft brush on aluminium bottles with lining like SIGG so as not to damage the lining. Stainless steel water bottles like Klean Kanteen and Nathan can handle a hard brush.
While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, it is recommended to not put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher powders are caustic, so they will eat into the metal of your bottle and damage the exterior pattern. Bottle tops should also not be put in the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.
Never freeze metal bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside. Water does not always expand in a predictable direction! Freezing plastic water bottles is also not advisable because it may cause the plastic to breakdown and toxins to leach. It is fine to place your bottle in the refrigerator.
Tips on cleaning your water bottle brought to you by Biome Eco Stores Australia.
Sphere: Related Content