Bottled water do we need it ? Refill with tap water

Catherine Muncro, in a recent edition of the Age, Melbourne writes about the
problems of bottled water.

 Environmentalists are worried about the toll on the planet.

With 65 per cent of plastic drink bottles ending up in landfill, they are calling for better recycling services - for example in shopping centres, instead of putting them in litter bins or dropping them when finished.

The popularity of bottled water is rising at a rate of 10 percent a year in Australia. Doubt if it is less here in New Zealand.

About 550 million litres were consumed in 2004-05 in Australia , according to the Australian Beverage Council, with most purchases being made in addition to soft drinks, rather than replacing them.

 A major environmental hazard. They suck up valuable fuels to make - uses crude oil as the plastic is made
from the fossil fuel.

They create mountains of rubbish when they are thrown away.

Environmental scientist Tim Grant said it was "counter-intuitive" that bottled water was such a successful product. "People pay $2.50 for something that's free," he said. Tap water is just as high quality as anything that can be bought.

"In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels," she said.

In Australia, the energy cost of buying water instead of drawing it from a tap was comparable to driving a car, said Mr Grant, who is the assistant director of design at RMIT University. While driving a car for one kilometre used four megajoules of energy, drinking a 600-millilitre bottle of water used 1.5megajoules, when the transport costs were included.

By contrast, drinking water out of a tap used only 0.2megajoules, Mr Grant said. And when they are no longer wanted, water bottles were taking up space in landfill sites.

While Australians are enthusiastic recyclers at home, they don't get the opportunity with bottled water because it's usually bought when people are out at the movies, at the beach or shopping.

"Australia's recycling system does not collect away-from-home waste," Total Environment Centre director Jeff Angel said. "Of the 118,000 tonnes of drink bottle plastic consumed every year, only 35 per cent of it was recycled," he said.

People should bring their own their water containers.

"It's like shopping bags, it's the same problem," Mr Angel said. "There's an argument for people putting their own tap water into containers."

Drink bottles also take up more space than other waste, comprising 38 per cent of total volume of litter. They appear mostly in parks and floating on the waterfront, according to statistics from Clean Up Australia. They are deadly for thirsty wildlife, which get trapped inside containers.

"They are attractive, they catch the light and they are shiny, so little animals see them and get in," Clean Up Australia spokeswoman Therrie-Ann Johnson said.

Consumers needed deposit schemes to encourage them not to throw away their bottles, Ms Johnson said. The not-for-profit organisation was in talks with private companies to establish public recycling at shopping centres. However, ensuring a recycling bin at public locations was difficult because beaches, parks and shopping centres were run by a wide range of groups, from listed companies to municipal councils.
 

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