Why the Oil Industry Benefits from Bottled Water Sales

[lame54]

http://www.alternet.org/water/89596/
Most people know of Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon, ConocoPhillips and British Petroleum as some of the world's biggest oil companies. These corporations are synonymous with gasoline, motor oil and environmental degradation.

Regardless of their ubiquity in our everyday lives, many people are not conscious of how these names are intimately linked to the bottled water industry through the production of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles.

Given that 80 percent of the PET produced in the United States ends up in a Coca-Cola, Pepsi or Nestlé beverage container, people should know the connection that these bottled water producers have with the largest oil, chemical and plastic corporations on the planet. Let's see who is profiting from supplying oil-based plastic to the bottled water industry and how the players in this supply chain are some of the worst environmental polluters of our time.

The process of producing PET plastic bottles involves a number of different stages using multiple producers in the supply chain. Some of the corporations are widely recognizable, while others are more obscure. The important point in this analysis, however, is that the bottled water manufacturers are the end point of a supply chain that contains some of the biggest polluters on the planet.

[kestrel91316]

1. They also make more than a little pocket change what with all the gas/diesel

used to ship the goddamned things all over the country.

[2Design]

2. I don't understand the heat bottle water is taking - soda products are bad for you

so being about to chose a water instead makes sense - same plastic problem but I don't see people attacking soda makers

[Hannah Bell]

4. much of the bottled water sold is owned by soda makers.

[Catch22Dem]

3. tap water for our family

Good stuff!

[pnorman]

6. Tap water used to be just fine at my downtown Seattle location.

But that was almost 30 years ago. I don't know if it's become much "harder" since then, but the Chlorine odor has become quite noticeable. It's still okay for general cooking purposes, but for coffee & tea, I use a Brita pitcher.

Here's from the Amazon web-page:
"....The filter used with this system has been certified by NSF International, a testing authority for water filtration products, and reduces copper and eliminates 99% of lead in tap water. Using activated carbon as well as an ion exchange resin, it also reduces chlorine, bad tastes, odors, and sediment--making it a lot easier to drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day..."
http://www.amazon.com/Brita-42412-Atlantis-Water-Pitcher/dp/B00004SU15/ref=pd_cp_hg_1?pf_rd_p=277661601&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00004SU16&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=05NTQRQY76Y9V4K83AC0

pnorman

[ben_meyers]

5. Mayors' bottle ban is no specious attack on Big Water

By Joe Soucheray

Article Last Updated: 06/24/2008 10:44:11 PM CDT


U.S. mayors, having solved all other problems, resolved at their annual conference, in Miami, to stop providing bottled water for employees and guests. On the occasions when I have called on City Hall, I do not remember being offered a bottle of water and I am not generationally slotted to have been offered something stronger from an office drawer, although I sometimes think we would be better off if mayors took a swig of Old Grand Dad and put aside the affectations of Aquafina.

And now it sounds like they will, 250 mayors or so signing on to sing the praises of their own municipal water systems while also sheepishly having to confess that's where bottled water probably comes from in the first place. Not to mention that municipal water systems are tested, do not feature plastic bottles, which need to be recycled, and cost less. Because we already pay for municipal water systems, we are paying twice for water when we buy it at the store.(snip)

The mayors have seen the light, and for that we should all be grateful. There are still big groups to convert — athletes, the urban office worker and, biggest of all, the hypocritical Hollywood set that drives the Prius to the store to buy bottled water.

This guy has it right.