Bottled Water: It’s all in the shape
by Greg Hardwick
During the recent floods in England, bottled water was the first item to disappear from the supermarket shelves. Such is the importance of clean drinking water, the lack of access to it, is a major cause of death and illness worldwide. However, in developed nations bottled water has become fashionable and is seen as a better alternative to taking a drink from the tap. Water, whether it comes from an exotic spring, or even the local water supply, has now become a highly packaged, relabelled and marketed commodity.
When oxygen can be sold in specially designed ‘oxygen bars’ it comes as no surprise when water can be packaged to not look out of place next to the most expensive sparkling wines. Is bottled water environmentally irresponsible? Capitalism gone mad? Or, a healthy alternative to the plethora of sugar-based drinks?
According to the Earth Policy Institute: “The global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier.”
What is not commonly recognized is that 40 per cent of bottled water begins its life from the same water supply that eventually flows out of the humble kitchen tap. The major difference, explains the Earth Policy Institute’s, BOTTLED WATER: Pouring Resources Down the Drain is the price. Bottled water can cost as much as 10,000 times more than the same quantity of tap water.
The mineral content is often used to explain the health benefits of taking a drink from a bottle. Extra minerals or not, bottled water is promoted as a healthier alternative to tap water and the caffeine and sugar-based drinks lining the supermarket shelves. Stephen Kay of the International Bottled Water Association believes it is not a simple question of comparing tap and bottled water. “Consumers are choosing bottled water in lieu of beverages that contain sugar, calories and alcohol,” he recently said.
However, in France, the home of Evian and Perrier: “The French Senate even advises people who drink bottled mineral water to change brands frequently because the added minerals are helpful in small amounts but may be dangerous in higher doses,” reported the Earth Policy Institute.
Packaging water in plastics and glass generates greater greenhouse gas emissions. Transporting water from local supplies via pipes is far more efficient than packaging, flying and then trucking water from Nicole Kidman’s favorite Christmas Holiday retreat in Fiji, or the Australian island state of Tasmania. Packaging, such as PET, the common plastic bottle, is derived from crude oil and is often not recycled. Fourteen per cent of PET bottles were recycled in the US in 2004, said Jennifer Gitlitz of the Container Recycling Institute in a recent article appearing in Newsweek.
Marketing managers in Australia have recognized that people are certainly not buying water for taste and certainly not for its cost. Packaging, according to Graphic Design Lecturer, Lyndal Chase, has long been recognized as one of the most influential factors driving consumer response. Many companies lure consumers by changing bottle shape. Rippled, ergonomic and even square designs are being used by the world’s biggest selling brands.
Perhaps it’s time we made the kitchen tap more appealing…