Bottled Water: bad for the environment and your health

Lately at Fairware we’ve been taking a closer look at the bottled water industry. There are some shocking facts about this product as it relates to your health and the environment.

Contrary to the clean, fresh images in bottled water ads, there’s no conclusive evidence that it’s any safer than tap water. In fact, given lax labeling laws, it seems we know less about what’s actually in bottled water. Combine this with socio-economic concerns surrounding the privatization of potable resources, and like us, you’re probably wondering why bottled water has become so ubiquitous.

There are also major environmental implications to the bottled water industry, including the depletion of groundwater sources, the creation of harmful greenhouse gas emissions from bottling and transporting, and the problems resulting from plastic packaging entering our waterways and filling our landfills. Don’t be fooled, recycling the plastic bottles doesn’t make up for this.

Clearly bottled water needs to be cut from our day-to-day. Consider these tips for making the transition:

1. Get carafes and glasses in your office for serving water at meetings and events.
2. Hand out reusable water bottles to your colleagues and employees.
3. Give custom branded water bottles to your clients – they make a practical gift.
4. Planning an event? Present conference attendees with reusable water bottles to use and take home.
5. Sign the Council of Canadians’ Tap Water Pledge and organize a Water Watch Committee
6. If you’re unhappy with the taste or quality of tap water in your area, look into purchasing a filtration system.

Tags: bottled, carafe, conference, emissions, environment, event, garbage patch, glasses, greenhous gas, ground water, health, meeting, tap, water, water bottles