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Eco-shaped bottles — better for the environment?


Half-liter eco-shaped bottles seem to be everywhere now, and they have already caused notice from environmentalists.

The Numbers Guy, Carl Bialik, from The Wall Street Journal noticed these slimmer bottles last December and crunched all the numbers and stats about them. The Carbon Conscious Consumer really criticizes the so-called "oxymoron" of this environmentally-friendly bottled water. And Planet Trash slams the new shape as marketing hype.

So what is the big deal about these so-called more environmentally-friendly bottles? Most of the bottle water companies claim the following points:

1) Less plastic is used to manufacture the bottles.

2) The eco-shape bottle is 100 percent recyclable.

3) Other eco-features touted include a smaller label, the bottle can be crushed for recycling, and it’s easy to carry.

The bottled water manufacturers are claiming that the eco-shape cuts down on the amount of plastic used to make one bottle — 30 percent less to be exact. But that’s only 30 percent less plastic than the old bottles; the new bottles themselves are not made out of recycled plastic, which is what it seemed like the eco-shape was about.

They are being misleading when claiming that one of the new features is that the eco-shape bottle is 100 percent recyclable. They make it seem like the old bottles weren’t recyclable when, in fact, they were 100 percent recyclable, too.

But it seems that the half-liter bottle size is the only plastic bottle with the new eco-shape. All the other sizes appear to look the same as they have for decades and there hasn’t been any eco-hype about more enviro-friendly liter or gallon bottles.

The bottled water companies are at least going in the right direction. Although buying and drinking bottled water has been frowned upon, it is still healthier to drink water than other bottled alternatives like soda pop.

In an old ever green post about shooting down the negatives of drinking bottled water, the media was criticized for blaming bottled-water manufacturers with clogging up the world with plastic bottles. All bottled drink manufacturers, not just bottled water companies, have the responsibility to the planet for having easily recyclable containers — which for the most part they do. Aluminum cans and plastic bottles are all easily recyclable.

So the good news about the new eco-shape bottle is that it uses less plastic in the manufacturing process. No matter if the product is 100 percent recyclable, starting from the beginning by having less to recycle is always good.

But the most eco-friendly way to drink water is from the tap. Bringing your own refillable water container to work or wherever is always a better alternative than buying one — even if it is in an eco-shape.

keeping the earth ever green

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Environmental detriment of bottled drinks?


The detriment of the unenvironmentalness of bottled water have recently been the cause celebre in the media. There were lots of similar reports about the plastic waste that bottles have made and how bottled water doesn’t necessarily taste any better or have less bacteria than tap water. It was even reported that cities and towns’ local governments have been trying to tout the natural deliciousness of tap water to stem the plastic waste created from the bottled variety. Studies and statistics were cited on how many hundreds of thousands of plastic bottles end up on the planet just from bottled water alone. But these so-called media giants who jump onto any sort of trendy — ahem — "news item" only skimmed the surface of this subject.

History of bottled drinks encased in plastic
Beverages including soda and water began to be bottled in plastic in 1970 and 1968 respectively. Starting in the 1980s, the plastic used for bottling was of the PET (polyethylene terephtalate) type, which is recyclable. This type of plastic became the plastic bottling standard.

Number of bottles from water or other drinks
Nowhere in any of the media "reports" on the bad-for-the-environment-plastic-bottles-from-bottled-water stories were there any statistics about any of the other beverages in plastic bottles. What about the annual numbers of plastic soda bottles produced vs. bottled water? If some of the people who drink bottled water now are ones who used to drink soda, the number of bottles strewn about the Earth could possibly be the same.

International Bottled Water Association President Joseph Doss told the Agence France-Presse that their industry alone should not bear the brunt of the criticism: "If the debate is about the impact of plastic packaging on the environment, a narrow focus on bottled water spotlights only a small portion of the packaged beverage category and an even smaller sliver of the universe of packaged products. Any efforts to reduce the resources necessary to produce and distribute packaged goods — and increase recycling rates — must focus on all packaging."

Health benefits from drinking water vs. soda
No matter where the water comes from, bottled or from the tap, it is much more healthful than chemical-laden soda pop. If there are these negative reports about how bottled water is bad for the environment, people might instead pick up some soda, thinking that there are no bad reports about that.

Plastic bottles can be recycled
Like stated previously, all plastic bottled drinks use the standard PET plastic, which is recyclable. Even if the bottles are thrown into the trash, most likely in large urban areas, someone will pick through the garbage specifically looking for plastic bottles so they can cash in the deposit.

 

The best thing for the environment is definitely not buying plastic bottled drinks. But, if the bottle is the only thing a drink can be purchased in, it’s good to know that at least the bottles can be recycled — and drinking water is definitely much better for one’s health than soda.

keeping the earth ever green

Dear Reader, In The Fray is a nonprofit staffed by volunteers. If you liked this piece, could you please donate $10? If you want to help, you can also: