This guest post is brought to you by Yvy.
Are you a fan of bottled water? Or are you like me, a tap water drinker? I can honestly say that a lot of people I know prefer to buy water rather than bring or carry with them water from home. The question of which is better, bottled or tap, is an ongoing debate but it all boils down to one thing : choice.
Image credit: Water bottles by shrff14.
An article I read, [Have been reading a few before I wrote this piece] mentioned that in 2001, a record number of 5 billion gallons of drinking bottled water was consumed by the Americans. In another words, that the same amounts of water that falls from the American Falls at Niagara Falls in two hours! That’s a whole lot of water there….. And it’s scary isn’t it? When you think about what needs to be done to get this whole industry going, I think drinking water from the tap is hell of a lot easier! I, for one, hate bottled water. The only reason I would buy bottled water is if I have no choice and I’ve run out of water which I brought from home. Of course I won’t deny the fact that I’ve bought bottled water many a times but it was only for the bottle. That’s right…I buy bottled water so that I can make use of the bottle by filling it with tap water the next time. You may think it’s nuts but I think bottled water taste funny. And so I normally avoid it at all costs and when I do buy bottled water, I buy the cheapest so that I can empty that bottle on plants and refill it with tap water instead.
About a decade ago, bottled water was so expensive that I thought I would never be able to afford it but now, I can easily purchase a bottle for 90 cents. It goes to show that this industry is booming and will continue to do so as long as there is a demand for it. Charles Fishman wrote a fabulous article about bottled water and the choice that is left up to us to make. And he states quite clearly that the world is spending more and more money by the year on bottled water when we can easily obtain the same water, for free from the taps of our homes. Parts of this article which struck a chord in me were :
Thirty years ago, bottled water barely existed as a business in the United States. Last year, we spent more on Poland Spring, Fiji Water, Evian, Aquafina, and Dasani than we spent on iPods or movie tickets–$15 billion. It will be $16 billion this year. Bottled water is the food phenomenon of our times. We–a generation raised on tap water and water fountains–drink a billion bottles of water a week, and we’re raising a generation that views tap water with disdain and water fountains with suspicion.
We’ve come to pay good money–two or three or four times the cost of gasoline–for a product we have always gotten, and can still get, for free, from taps in our homes. Packing bottled water in lunch boxes, grabbing a half-liter from the fridge as we dash out the door, piling up half-finished bottles in the car cup holders–that happens because of a fundamental thoughtlessness. It’s only marginally more trouble to have reusable water bottles, cleaned and filled and tucked in the lunch box or the fridge. We just can’t be bothered. And in a world in which 1 billion people have no reliable source of drinking water, and 3,000 children a day die from diseases caught from tainted water, that conspicuous consumption of bottled water that we don’t need seems wasteful, and perhaps cavalier.
In a nutshell, I think he’s just saying that it’s just so super convenient these days to just buy a bottle while you’re out and about, instead of taking the trouble to bring a bottle from home. I don’t doubt that there are people like that: I am one, but I personally think that there are more people out there who aren’t willing to go that extra bit because of the inconvenience it causes. How selfish I say! Another thing is the taste….Many people say that they can taste the difference between the brands of bottled water ie trying to differentiate Perrier from Evian, I think that’s bull. But if you tell that you can tell the difference between bottled water and tap water, I believe you because I know that I can do that. I grew up drinking tap water although Mum made sure it was boiled. She was skeptical that way but now, I don’t bother and I don’t have to. In Australia, the water is treated and good enough to drink straight from the tap and it’s at its best on a hot summer’s day when the water is chilled! Yummy…. But in Malaysia, I always find myself boiling it first. Must be Mum’s habit rubbing off on me. That said, she never drinks from the tap here though, old habits die hard… So, no comments. The thing is, there have been so many test that show no evidence that bottled water is better than tap. I think most of the time, people are of the opinion that branded is better. It’s all in the mind and the way the mind is lead to believe that expensive means better.
Compared to Ted, I drink a lot more water than he does. In fact, you can hardly find me without my water bottle [of tap water] when I’m out and about because #1. I think it’s silly to spend hard earned money to BUY bottled water every time I’m out when I can bring my own free tap water which I would enjoy more from home #2. fizzy drinks are not good for you and #3. it’s a lot better for the environment. Why? Because in a research done, most of the time, these plastic bottles are not recycled as they are meant to. People don’t bother tossing them into the recycle bin, instead it’s not a surprise to see empty bottles in the train, stuffed between the chairs…and that’s just to name a few. It’s really very sad to think that people are willing to buy these plastic bottles but not willing to go that extra mile to ensure that it gets recycle. I’m not saying that everyone is irresponsible but a huge majority is just that. The one thing I’m glad that is environmentalists in Australia is urging the government to discourage people from buying bottled water and instead, encourage people to ditch the bottles and switch to tap water.
I really hope to see a difference because although recycling is already a big thing in Australia and most households actually do take the time to recycle most of it’s waste, there is always space to do more. Ditching bottled water could be a huge step in healing Mother Earth and it would be a miracle if other countries would follow suit…maybe Malaysia should give it a go too, eh? In Charles Fishman’s own words…. “Once you understand where the water comes from and how it got here, it’s hard to look at that bottle in the same way again.”
Ditch the bottle, drink from the tap :)
Yvy @ mistyeiz is a Malaysian who blogs at Little Cozy Corner. She is mum to baby Ella and wife to Ted. She has been residing in Sydney, Australia since Sept 2006 and is still learning the ropes of living in the land down under.
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Haha, it’s the same issue again year by year. Forget about the world, the condition in Malaysia is sad enough. It is very common to see a lot of used plastic bottles / containers being disposed roadside and illegal dumping site: a major polluting source and a major source of dengue epidemic.
By the way, I won’t really recommend you to keep on reusing the plastic mineral bottles. Why? Kindly refer to the SPI Resin Identification Code. In general, lower number of index means lower resistance to thermal and chemical reactions. And all of our mineral bottles are being labeled “1″… So be careful…
Great article Yvy! I wrote about the problems associated with these plastic bottles on August 3rd — Study Says Plastic May Endanger Our Health. It is good to see it getting continued publicity.
You have a fantastic blog here, Pelf. I can’t wait to read all the posts to come as a result of your group writing project.
-Will
buy glass and reuse. drink tap water whenever possible. plastic is one of the biggest polluters on the planet- and bottled water shouldn’t be. it is ‘en vogue’ to drink bottled but we must rethink this.
I’ve read somewhere about the numbers at the underside of our plastic water bottles but I never remembered what those numbers meant :( Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for the kind words, Will, but no, this isn’t part of the group-writing project. But I am fortunate to have a bunch of blogger friends who are very supportive of my work, and they have agreed to contribute to Giving Hands on a fortnightly basis :D
Since you say so I might as well add some facts here.
According to Society of the Plastics Industry, all plastics can be generally grouped into 7 categories, starting from 1 to 7. In layman’s term, the higher the index number, the more complex the polymer structure is. Please be noted that all plastics falling into all 7 groups are thermoplastics, Thermoplastics can go through melting/freezing cycles repeatedly meaning that they can be recycled upon reheating to be shaped into something new. This is good news for the environment, but not for our human body.
In general, lower index number means lower resistance to electromagnetic (in this case, heat) and chemical reaction. Take Polyethylene (PE) for example, All water bottles are made of PE with the SPI RIC of 1. For common commercial grades of medium-density and high-density PE, the melting point is typically in the range 120-130 °C. The melting point for average commercial low-density PE is typically 105-115 °C.
Now if you recall, the newly cooked food / boiled water temperature is often greater than 100°C. What is the maximum temperature of the food / water when they have surface contact with the plastic container? Nobody knows exactly the value. This means that plastics will have a good chance of melting at a micro scale level and mix with your food or water if you use those kind of plastics to store them. You are indirectly eating / drinking plastics, disgusting isn’t it?
Well, that’s enough for today :) If you want to scare yourself to death, try studying polymer engineering in detail or read more from Wikipedia. Till then, take care!
true…plastic bottles aren’t good if u keep using them as u mentioned colorfulworld, but that said, my plastics do get recycled. :) another thing, despite using glass is a great idea…it’s kind of dangerous to be carrying around, dont u think? just my my humble POV…
I do a lot of hiking and some backpacking so I frequently have a need to carry water. I don’t like the idea of the disposable plastic bottles. I did try a Camelback for a while. I did not like the taste the material imparted to the water and it made me think that some nasty chemicals were probably being off-gassed or leached from the liner.
What I did is buy a couple of stainless steel Sigg bottles. They were not cheap, but they were the solution for me. We have very good quality tap water here, (voter one of 10 best in U.S.), so it is easier for me to do it this way. I don’t know what people would fill their Siggs with if they live in a city with terrible quality water.
-Will
But what if I only refill my plastic bottles with drinking water (not boiled nor hot)? Does that mean I can use it many more times compared to if I filled it with hot water?
P/S: I don’t fill my plastic bottles with hot water, and I hope nobody does that!
I wanted to buy a SIGG bottle after reading about it. And I even chose which one I wanted. But unfortunately, SIGG does not accept PayPal and I do not have a credit card :(
One of the advantages (to manufacturers) / disavantages (to user) is that thermoplastics can be recycled if sufficient supply of EM radiation is given. Unfortunately the sun provide a wide spectrum of EM wave, especially the UV and infra-red. Everytime we bring our bottles out, unless shielded if not the bottles will have direct contact with sunlight. The high energy UV will loosen the the polymer bonding of the bottles. We all know that our drinking water, no matter how clean or pure it is, will not consist of only H2O molecules. We also know that different chemical compound would react accordingly to the plastics used. This is even critical if you place the bottle inside your vehicle for quite some time whereby the vehicle is parked under the sun. So basically you’ll have UV speeding up the degradation process of plastics polymer caused by chemical compounds in the water itself. If the bottle is in the vehicle under the hot sun, please add trapped heat within the vehicle into the equation. Haha, isn’t the entire process magnificent? The precise timing is not known but statistically this will happen sooner or later. And what we have discussed so far is about plain water only. I dare not imagine the “aftermath” if the plain water is replaced by carbonated drinks etc.
Those who are living in hot places like Malaysia can give it a try: take a bottle (plastics) of water and put it under the hot sun for 30 minutes to 1 hour then use your nose to smell the water, if you can’t smell anything strange then take a sip of the water. Compare the smell and taste between the bottled water and fresh tap water / boiled water and you will know exactly what I mean. =)
Speaking of boiled water, a lot of hypermarkets / supermarkets are selling plastics kettles, which I seriously question the stability of the plastics polymer. A good thing of having some knowledge about plastics is that you can’t believe every single sh*t that the manufacturers claimed. Unfortunately many people, especially young people and singles love to buy that kind of suicidal device due to the promised convenience. Sigh…
Conclusion:
To play safe, never ever use plastics bottle if the bottle has been subjected to long hours of heat / long hours of UV radiation / loading other than plain H20 / any mentioned combination.
(Plastics manufacturers’ comment) Anyway, the overall pollution sources that you can imagine is more severe that plastics alone, and there is a very high possibility you may eventually die because of other stuff instead of plastics poisoning. So there is no need to be panic, take it easy. Keep buying from us. We all die sooner or later. (End of comment)
Pelf, I hope I have answered your question. =p
Anyway, if you can’t get a SIGG bottle. You can always try those stainless steel vacuum flasks on the market. They are more reliable than plastics bottles.
the Siggs are available here in most all sporting goods and outdoor stores. Also here is a seller on ebay with a a lot of Siggs and they take PayPal.