Movies, Books, Politicians the Water Bottle is Under Siege
Bear a plastic water bottle to your own hazard; the wave of social opinion is turning on you. From popular rating documentaries, to articles and politics, the biggest news on the soapbox is the terror that is bottled water and the waste of resources that the industry forces.
The processing, transportation and waste of water in petrochemical plastic bottles eats up large waste of water as well as energy, and generates large measures of greenhouse gases and waste.
Director of the new documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig says “1500 water bottles end up in landfill every second – that’s 30 million water bottles a day! We wanted to show people just how much waste is generated by bottled water.” The people behind Tapped are promoting the film with their across-America roadshow, receiving pledges from citizens to take down their water bottle use and exchanging their empty plastic water bottle in exchange for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.
Another such film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. By Annie Leonard of the famous ‘The Story of Stuff’, this short film shows the method that amounts to swaying Americans into consuming around hundreds of millions of bottles of water each week, compared with a few cents cost for water from the tap. See the film on You Tube.
Through her book ‘Bottlemania’, investigator Elizabeth Royte explores one of the monumental marketing tricks of the last century and demands a strong environmental alarm bell. She explores the questions we must come to deal with. Who owns the water supply? What happens when a bottled-water corporation possesses your town’s drinking water? Is the water coming out of your tap completely safe? What is the environmental cost of making, transportation and disposal of a plastic water bottle?
Politicians from all around the globe are beginning to realise that they are required to do something – particularly when the buildings where they serve are large consumers of bottled water. How often do we see a politician in a press conference sipping from a water bottle. They might use a water glass in Parliament House.
Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, held that “Cities and states are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on bottled water, and that’s not to mention what’s spent to deal with all the plastic bottles that are thrown out.”
In July 2009, the NSW rural town of Bundanoon became the first group of Australia to prevent the retailing of bottled water. Some 60 places in the United States and a few places in Canada and the UK have now prohibited spending taxpayer funds on bottled water.
It is doubtless that this issue will be tabled at World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the globe’s most time-sensitive water-related events.
Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.
Sphere: Related ContentWater Bottles Need to be Clean to be Safe: How to Clean Your Water Bottle
You are doing the right thing for the planet by filling up at home and carrying a reusable water bottle and you’ve chosen a safe, non-toxic bottle-but if it’s not kept clean then it may not be healthy.
Whether your drink bottle is a stainless steel bottle, SIGG bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming in the bottle.
Wash your drink bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off every day where possible.
Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean water bottle with Distilled White Vinegar and let it soak for 24 hours. Then rinse with warm water mixed with one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), rinse out and let dry. Spots inside the bottle that look like “corrosion” are most likely a mineral deposit.
Fill your bottle with filtered water wherever possible. It tastes so much better, but also because water contains different minerals in every area this may affect what happens inside your bottle.
Do not allow liquids such as fruit juice to ferment inside the bottle.
With all reusable water bottles you can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and a specially-designed SIGG bottle cleaning brush, or simply a baby bottle brush. Only ever use a soft brush on aluminium bottles with lining like SIGG so as not to damage the lining. Stainless steel water bottles like Klean Kanteen and Nathan can handle a hard brush.
While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, it is recommended to not put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher powders are caustic, so they will eat into the metal of your bottle and damage the exterior pattern. Bottle tops should also not be put in the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.
Never freeze metal bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside. Water does not always expand in a predictable direction! Freezing plastic water bottles is also not advisable because it may cause the plastic to breakdown and toxins to leach. It is fine to place your bottle in the refrigerator.
Tips on cleaning your water bottle brought to you by Biome Eco Stores Australia.
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