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Bottled water
I see people here buy a lot of plastic bottled water when it's possible to buy glass bottled water - brands like Tönissteiner, Chaudfontaine, even Spa all do bottled water in glass. Tönnisteiner has the highest magnesium content so it's the healthiest bottled water available in Belgium. Is there any particular reason why such an environmentally damaging packaging such as plastic is so popular here? Do people not think before they buy?
Look at the big picture........
Plastic bottles are cheaper, less wt, recyclable ( and in Bel recycling rate of PET bottles is good)
plus
PET bottles melting pt is less than glass - if recycled
If reused, glass bottles place an additonal burden of man hours+ fuel consumption+ cleaning+ chemicals used+ hot water to sterlise....
There is also a push from Al industry to use Aluminium bottles- where recycled aluminium takes only 5% of energy required to melt - rather than primary .......
Magnesium is not always best in water.
Also, PET bottles are also recycled and Belgium has a very good level of recycling by European standards
Tara.
Partially agree, but when it comes to a trade off between environment and money more than 90% concern about economy not the environment..With the ongoing crisis so are the policy makers deferring decisions......so are the corporates deferring investments. so are the people buying cheaper products to save money-
May be an alternative is to buy a large cans ( 5L, 15Litres) instead of a 1 L bottle- which save both money and plastic use.
Now we also have plastic made from bio materials such as plants. I have seen bottles close to 40-45% from plants.
http://www.sierraclubgreenhome.com/go-green/food/odwalla-plant-bottle/
http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/environment/plantbottle/introduction-to-plant...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-plastic-from-plants-...
I don't know the source of the bottles used in bel, but as a consumer we should be informed about the sources. We have every right to be informed.
I love plastic bottles.
I don't have car....therefore when I do buy bottled water and lug it home, it is in plastic bottles. What's the tradeoff there?
or even more environmental is to not buy bottled water, cutting out the energy used in producing and delivering it for you, For most Belgians, tap water is perfectly healthy and bottled water is a huge cost in energy.
How the hell can you even consider that one form of bottled water should be better for the environment than another when you get such good quality drinking water delivered to you en-masse through your taps?
Or the sky.
Take your beloved glass bottles, stick them outside in the rain, let them fill up, then drink it up. See you get your bottled water for free then with little of the world's energy used up.
Become a sceptic and see the bottled water industry as a money making exercise, you'll find it will good for your wallet and good for the environment too.
