TCAM

Carry a plastic water bottle at your own risk; the tide of widespread belief is turning away from you. From popular rating documentaries, to articles and political campaigns, the biggest news in town is the problem around bottled water and the waste its industry creates.

The producing, transportation and disposal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles requires tremendous use of water and energy, and pumps out tremendous measures of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the hot new documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig sums it up “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 an across-America roadshow, collecting sponsorships from donors to reduce their water bottle use and exchanging their used 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 well-received ‘The Story of Stuff’, this short film explores the methodology that goes into swaying Americans into wasting over five hundred million bottles of water each and every week, as opposed to a few cents cost for water from the tap. Check out this short film on You Tube.

In her book ‘Bottlemania’, investigator Elizabeth Royte demonstrates one of the greatest marketing takeovers of the twentieth century and gives a powerful environmental wakeup call. She asks the problems we must eventually answer to. Who owns the drinking water? What will happen when a bottled-water company holds your town’s water source? Is the water coming from a tap absolutely safe? What really is the environmental footprint of producing, transporting and disposing of every plastic water bottle?

Politicians from all around the nation are acknowledging that they must take responsibility – markedly when the meetings in which they debate are high consumers of bottled water. How often do we view a politician at a conference drinking from a water bottle. They might drink from a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, said “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 in Australia to ban the retailing of bottled water. About 60 places in the American states and a handful of towns in Canada and the United Kingdom have banned the spending of taxpayer funds on bottled water.

Surely these problems will be discussed in World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the planet’s most urgent water-related events.

Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.

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.