Bottled Water Labeled “From the Tap”
Posted by Justin Baden July 27th, 2007 .Bottled water is a huge environmental issue, both in the amount of plastic waste created and the needless carbon produced during the processing and transport stages. This is a topic we’ve covered pretty extensively at Go Green with Chad’s ongoing initiative to avoid bottled water altogether, an effort I think we’ve all adopted. If you haven’t read his posts, check out the first one here and the follow-up. The Post and Courier also ran an article recently taking a look at the scourge of water bottles and their impact on the Charleston area.
So with a solid understanding of the needless impact placed on our environment by bottled water, I was almost giddy when I read, according to CNN, that Pepsi will start labeling their Aquafina brand bottled water as originating from public sources.
PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry. According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world’s No. 2 beverage company will include the words “Public Water Source” on Aquafina labels.
Pepsi’s Aquafina bottled water and Coca-Cola’s Dasani are made from purified tap water.
“If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it’s a reasonable thing to do,” said Michelle Naughton, a Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman.
This is a huge step. I’m sure millions of people will be shocked that all bottled water doesn’t originate from a pure source high on a quaint and restful mountain top. Hopefully, this move will get people to realize that they can save the environment and some money by simply drinking tap water… from the tap instead of the bottle.
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This is great info Justin…I really like what some of the city officials were doing:
“San Francisco’s mayor banned city employees from using city funds to buy bottled water when tap water is available. Ann Arbor, Michigan passed a resolution banning commercially bottled water at city events and Salt Lake City, Utah asked department heads to eliminate bottled water.”
I’d like to see some local officials go this way. Corporations should do the same thing…they no longer need to buy hundreds of bottles of water to have an event where drinking fountains are nearby.
People should be free to drink or not to drink bottled water !! City governments need not get into the equation.
Agreed. And in the examples above, the government is not imposing policy onto the public. They are just eliminating bottled water from their operating expenses - for staff, events, etc. The public, and even city employees, are still 100% free to drink all the bottled water they want - just on their own dime. It’s nice to see leaders, in business or government, making a positive change.
Paul, I’ll agree and raise the ante by stating government shouldn’t be spending money (our tax dollars) on bottled water for employees. Not only is it a waste in the sense that bottled water is most often slightly more purified tap water, but with so many governments in debt it’s simply an unnecessary expenditure.
This is really a good story in the sense that the market is changing policy, as opposed to government creating another regulation.