Zenith Global - Home
  • About us
  • Consulting services
  • Market insights
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact
  • Our team
  • Case studies
  • Careers
  • Community
  • Commercial Consulting
    • Market and category research
    • International expansion and market entry
    • Commercial strategy development
    • Partner search, recommendations and connections
  • Transaction Services
    • Due diligence
    • Acquisitions and target search
    • Valuation
    • Business sale and divestment
  • Water & Environment
    • Water source search development and sustainability
    • Water source inspection testing rehabilitation
    • Source vulnerability assessment
    • Groundwater protection and risk management
    • Water quality troubleshooting
    • Due diligence
    • Regulatory advice
    • Water stewardship
  • Operations Consulting
    • Design consultation
    • Feasibility
    • Operational excellence
    • Capital projects
  • Associates & Sustainability
  • Reports
  • Mergers & acquisitions
  • Upcoming events
  • Past events
  • Sponsorship
  • Industry news
  • Press releases
  • Blogs
  • About us
  • Consulting services
  • Market insights
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Our team
  • Case studies
  • Careers
  • Community
  • Consulting Services
  • Commercial Consulting
  • Transaction Services
  • Water & Environment
  • Operations Consulting
  • Associates & Sustainability
  • Commercial Consulting
  • Market and category research
  • International expansion and market entry
  • Commercial strategy development
  • Partner search, recommendations and connections
  • Transaction Services
  • Due diligence
  • Acquisitions and target search
  • Valuation
  • Business sale and divestment
  • Water & Environment
  • Water source search development and sustainability
  • Water source inspection testing rehabilitation
  • Source vulnerability assessment
  • Groundwater protection and risk management
  • Water quality troubleshooting
  • Due diligence
  • Regulatory advice
  • Water stewardship
  • Operations Consulting
  • Design consultation
  • Feasibility
  • Operational excellence
  • Capital projects
  • Market Insights
  • Reports
  • Mergers & acquisitions
  • Events
  • Upcoming events
  • Past events
  • Sponsorship
  • News
  • Industry news
  • Press releases
  • Blogs
  • News
  • Blogs
  • UK BOTTLED WATER : SAINT OR SINNER ?
News
  • Industry news
  • Press releases
  • Blogs
15th February 2008 Bottled water Environmental

UK BOTTLED WATER : SAINT OR SINNER ?

4 x 4s, plastic bags, bottled water. Tonnes of oil, loads of waste, bottled water evil, drink from the tap. This sounds great. Save money, salvage conscience. But there is a real danger that common sense could be turned upside down. Water is as healthy as can be. It has almost no downsides, unlike any other product. Stop bottled water in its tracks and people will become
  • less well hydrated and less healthy, because 50% of bottled water is drunk on the move and they will drink less liquid
  • fatter when obesity is already a major social concern, because most of bottled water's recent growth has been as a replacement of calorie containing drinks.
Ah, but switching from bottle to tap will save the environment. Well, no actually. Bottled water uses less water and packaging than any other ready to drink beverage. Only a tiny proportion comes from outside Europe. Two action points would be good though.
  • Government should encourage local authorities to recycle more plastic. Levels could be doubled if all areas followed best practice.
  • Public water supply companies could do more to reduce leakage. At present leakage is over 1,000 times the level of bottled water consumption.
What about the 1 billion plus people around the world without proper access to water ? Well, bottled water companies are doing proportionately more than any other grocery sector. But isn't all water the same ? Shouldn't we just go back to the tap ? I'm a fan of tap water. I drink it a lot. But in the office we have water coolers for chilled water and jug filters for hot drinks. Sometimes I prefer a water from a protected known source where the water has had no chemical treatment. In other instances, it's a matter of convenience or taste. Should I be made to feel guilty for these entirely reasonable and informed healthy choices ? I believe bottled water is much more on the side of the angels than a sinner. So how should one respond to a Minister who says bottled water is morally unacceptable ? First, he should retract it because he is wrong. Second, he should concentrate more on real answers to public health, climate change and world poverty. Bottled water's carbon footprint is just 0.1% of the UK total. What about the other 99.9% ? If that's not tackled, then bottled water will be needed for more flood relief emergencies, not less.
Related news
Adobe Stock 223169149
16th June 2020 Environmental, Packaging
Recycling confusion
Adobe Stock 248318670
6th March 2020 Operations Consulting, Environmental, Recycling
Is the infrastructure in place for recycling?
Comments(0)
    Leave a comment
    • Terms and conditions
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookies
    • Terms of use
    • Standards and policies
    Address
    Zenith Global Ltd
    8 Kingsmead Square
    Bath
    BA1 2AB
    United Kingdom
    Phone +44 (0)1225 327900
    Email info@zenithglobal.com
    • Zenith on twitter
    • Zenith on linkedin
    Copyright Zenith Global Ltd 2023 Registered in England no. 2596583