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Title: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: CheezeFlixz on July 23, 2008, 07:09:39 PM I said it a year ago here (http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,114881.msg153233.html#msg153233) that bottled water was causing more waste than originally thought and was a racket.
So now ... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,389362,00.html (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,389362,00.html) Now here's the thing when I was a kid (a million years ago), cokes/soda/pop came in glass bottles, you paid a 3 cent deposit for those glass bottles and returned them to the store for a refund, you didn't have this landfill problem with plastic bottles. The metal caps on the glass bottle was lined with cork, 100% renewable, under the cork on some bottles you had a chance at winning big money! Like 5 or 10 cents, sometimes a quarter or half dollar and or rare occasions you'd win a dollar. So if people want to waste money on bottled water, do it. But why not sell it in returnable glass bottles? People are more likely to return glass bottles to the store for money than to recycle plastic bottled for nothing and have to pay money for gas to drive them to a recycling center. Sure it'll cost more to ship, but back in the day they had regional bottling companies and most soda's were produced locally, saving on shipping and producing jobs and product loyalty. Where I live people drink SunDrop by the gallons, why? Because years ago there was a bottling plant here and supported many families, those folks still drink it today, as do there kids and their kids etc. I say bring the glass bottle back! Made from sand! Plastic ... hmmm made from that evil oil. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Patient7 on July 23, 2008, 10:10:23 PM I don't know about everyone else, but where I live we have what's called a glass and there's a magical water making device called a sink you never have to throw anything away! Amazing! We need to distribute these things to every homeowner in the world! But how?
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Torgo on July 23, 2008, 10:14:21 PM I used to drink bottles water but I've switched a few months ago to just drinking out of the tap again. Don't know why actually I started to buy bottled water to begin with...............
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: CheezeFlixz on July 23, 2008, 10:24:01 PM I used to drink bottles water but I've switched a few months ago to just drinking out of the tap again. Don't know why actually I started to buy bottled water to begin with............... You were brain washed in bottled water .... My wife use to buy it and I was like WHY? WHY? WHY? We have filtered spring water at our tap, she's finally stopped too, I think mainly to stop having to hear me gripe about it. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: ulthar on July 23, 2008, 10:48:08 PM My wife drinks a fair bit of bottled water. FWIW, we DO reuse a lot (not all) of the bottles before taking them to the recycle bin. I guess the vending machines/cafeteria at her work only offers soft drinks and bottled water, so she gets the water.
We use bottled water on trips. She buys a flat, and that's what we drink. We often put those little drink powder singles into them. For around the house, she says she doesn't like the taste of our tap water. I drink it all the time and don't mind it. But, we DO have a filter. It's not inline; you have to fill it up. So, she drinks the filtered tap water. We drink virtually no soft drinks - probably less than 10 2L bottles a year. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: AndyC on July 23, 2008, 10:52:20 PM I've imagined the Evian bottling plant as some fat, balding guy in a dirty undershirt filling bottles with a garden hose.
Seriously, the more expensive the water, the worse it seems to taste. And it's always the ones that emphasize their purity that have the foulest taste. How can something be filtered five or six times and taste like it came straight out of a pond? Nothing wrong with our tapwater here. We're on an artesian well that has some really delicious water, and it's always nice and cold. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: CheezeFlixz on July 23, 2008, 11:03:26 PM And it's always the ones that emphasize their purity that have the foulest taste. How can something be filtered five or six times and taste like it came straight out of a pond? It's what they don't tell you, what did they filter it through? Old socks? Soiled underwear? Sweaty t-shirt? Septic tank? Old gym bag? Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: akiratubo on July 24, 2008, 01:11:54 AM I've never been a fan of bottled water. I could see ot if homes in the United States had trouble getting clean water from the tap but we're not at that point yet.
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Trevor on July 24, 2008, 02:53:45 AM And it's always the ones that emphasize their purity that have the foulest taste. How can something be filtered five or six times and taste like it came straight out of a pond? It's what they don't tell you, what did they filter it through? Old socks? Soiled underwear? Sweaty t-shirt? Septic tank? Old gym bag? :buggedout: but definitely also :bouncegiggle: :smile: :teddyr: Or perhaps Trevor's famous underpants? No, nooooooooo! :buggedout: Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Trevor on July 24, 2008, 03:01:34 AM This story also started in South Africa last year: the mineral water companies were accused of ripping off their customers not only by the prices but also by the claim that their water was bottled at a mountain spring. Most of the complainants stated that the water was more likely bottled at a tap / faucet somewhere in Johannesburg, so now all bottles carry the label "Prepared Water". :question:
I'm actually as much a fan of mineral water as Captain Haddock is, so I drink my water out of the tap. :smile: Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Ash on July 24, 2008, 03:27:10 AM I've imagined the Evian bottling plant as some fat, balding guy in a dirty undershirt filling bottles with a garden hose. (http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/1139/billdauterive1mu9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us) Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: asimpson2006 on July 24, 2008, 06:09:22 AM I use bottled water mostly at my job since I don't feel like to keep refilling a Styrofoam cup every time I need water. We get cheaper water more or less for when we go on trips or go some where and we want to drink water while getting there. I use our tap water now since we have a filtering system put in a few years ago, but it just to mainly fill up my empty bottle of water. I used to get water out our water cooler but the cold button stopped working and now it's just hot and tepid, and I can't stand tepid water.
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: AndyC on July 24, 2008, 06:51:36 AM ([url]http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/1139/billdauterive1mu9.jpg[/url]) ([url]http://imageshack.us[/url]) Bill does fit the bill all right. I was kind of visualizing Paulie from the Rocky movies. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Mr. DS on July 24, 2008, 08:56:45 AM The wife buys a ridiculous amount of bottled water. I drink it out of the tap mostly. We claim the bottle deposits on our soda cans (along with our neighbors), unfortunately there aren't too many places that have a deposit return on bottled water. Perhaps that would inspire people to go down and claim their nickle which does add up after awhile. You're right Andy C about water tasting worse as the price goes up. Evian to me is pure liquid sh*t. Give me water out of the garden hose any day.
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: indianasmith on July 24, 2008, 09:23:16 AM I do have one, tiny, itty-bitty little question.
Since plastic has only been around for about 60 years, how do they KNOW that it takes 1,000 years to decompose? Do they have a time machine? And if they do, why can't they use it for useful stuff instead of going into the future to see if all the plastic has rotted yet? :question: Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: AndyC on July 24, 2008, 09:40:48 AM Evian to me is pure liquid sh*t. Give me water out of the garden hose any day. Aquafina and Dasani (Pepsi and Coke products, respectively) taste the worst to me. These supposedly ultra-pure products are actually bitter! Water isn't supposed to be bitter. I didn't think it was supposed to have any flavour at all. Both of these products are run through charcoal filters and reverse osmosis membranes. Armies in the field use this process to pull good drinking water out of any old swamp that happens to be handy. In Singapore, they use similar technology to send sewage right back to the taps! And yet tapwater that is already clean comes out bitter when Coke or Pepsi run it through theirs. Something isn't right. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: ulthar on July 24, 2008, 09:48:33 AM I do have one, tiny, itty-bitty little question. Since plastic has only been around for about 60 years, how do they KNOW that it takes 1,000 years to decompose? Do they have a time machine? And if they do, why can't they use it for useful stuff instead of going into the future to see if all the plastic has rotted yet? :question: This question is actually a can of worms. One, part of the "it takes x years" is based on decay rates that can be measured. Decay is usually exponential, so if you only have a few data points, you can generally know the function. Think half-life type measurements. It's pretty basic, Chemistry 101 type stuff. Two: Some of it is overblown pap...depending on the 'environment' of the plastic. Plastic is actually VERY susceptible to ultraviolet light, so these dire predictions of how long it will last hinge solely on it being in the dark. Here's a fun experiment. Put an empty gallon milk jug on your back porch in the sun....in a year, it will be a crumbled mess - ESPECIALLY down in Texas. :) Three: Even if it does NOT take 1000's of years, some effects are measurable now. Small bits of plastic getting into the ocean closely resemble the natural food for a lot of plankton eating critters, and they thus eat the plastic. And then they die. This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpaSewyddd4 has some alarming footage, though when I saw it I did have some questions regarding the 'science.' It's clearly put together to make the MOST alarming visual impact, but let's not let that take away from the underlying point - plastic IS being dredged from the open ocean. I was particularly struck by the dead baby albatross with the shampoo bottle cap lodged in its throat. So, whether it lasts 1000 years or more in the landfill has become immaterial to me. The fact that it is causing problems NOW has made me at the very least become VERY aware of just how much of the crap I put in the garbage can every day. And most of it is unnecessary waste (like useless packaging). Finally, a couple of months ago, I drove from the east coast to Colorado. I do this every year. Never before this year had I noticed the sheer number of plastic grocery store style bags lining the sides of teh highways, blowing in fields, caught in trees and fences. Aside from being ugly (which all litter is), this was just mind boggling. Those things are EVERYWHERE. We've since gone to re-usable canvas bags purchased at our grocery store for 89 cents each. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: CheezeFlixz on July 24, 2008, 05:03:47 PM I do have one, tiny, itty-bitty little question. Since plastic has only been around for about 60 years, how do they KNOW that it takes 1,000 years to decompose? Do they have a time machine? And if they do, why can't they use it for useful stuff instead of going into the future to see if all the plastic has rotted yet? :question: This question is actually a can of worms. One, part of the "it takes x years" is based on decay rates that can be measured. Decay is usually exponential, so if you only have a few data points, you can generally know the function. Think half-life type measurements. It's pretty basic, Chemistry 101 type stuff. Two: Some of it is overblown pap...depending on the 'environment' of the plastic. Plastic is actually VERY susceptible to ultraviolet light, so these dire predictions of how long it will last hinge solely on it being in the dark. Here's a fun experiment. Put an empty gallon milk jug on your back porch in the sun....in a year, it will be a crumbled mess - ESPECIALLY down in Texas. :) Three: Even if it does NOT take 1000's of years, some effects are measurable now. Small bits of plastic getting into the ocean closely resemble the natural food for a lot of plankton eating critters, and they thus eat the plastic. And then they die. This video [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpaSewyddd4[/url] has some alarming footage, though when I saw it I did have some questions regarding the 'science.' It's clearly put together to make the MOST alarming visual impact, but let's not let that take away from the underlying point - plastic IS being dredged from the open ocean. I was particularly struck by the dead baby albatross with the shampoo bottle cap lodged in its throat. So, whether it lasts 1000 years or more in the landfill has become immaterial to me. The fact that it is causing problems NOW has made me at the very least become VERY aware of just how much of the crap I put in the garbage can every day. And most of it is unnecessary waste (like useless packaging). Finally, a couple of months ago, I drove from the east coast to Colorado. I do this every year. Never before this year had I noticed the sheer number of plastic grocery store style bags lining the sides of teh highways, blowing in fields, caught in trees and fences. Aside from being ugly (which all litter is), this was just mind boggling. Those things are EVERYWHERE. We've since gone to re-usable canvas bags purchased at our grocery store for 89 cents each. Which goes back to my original point what's wrong with glass, aside from the weight. Glass is silica, which is sand and when glass breaks down (actually crushed down) it's back to silica again, right? It's 100% renewable and it's handy in a bar fight. I can't stand those plastic bags at stores, if given the choice I'll murder a tree and take paper. A canvas bag would never work for me, because I'd never remember to take it with me. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: AndyC on July 25, 2008, 07:34:04 AM Plastic grocery bags are virtually useless these days anyway. They're so flimsy, they can't even hold the groceries in when you set them down. If I put a couple of bags of cans and bottles in the back of my van, they just roll all over the place the first time I turn a corner. The bag just obligingly gives way when the cans start to roll. Useless things, and then I have to open the door very carefully to keep my groceries off the driveway. The attraction of reusable bags, for me, is that they don't have so much give in them. They actually hold stuff in.
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: the master on July 25, 2008, 01:24:20 PM where i come from the water is not bad out of the tap
so i consiider bottled water a rip off heck i could start a company 1.get old bottle 2.rip the labels off 3.fill with water 4.???? 5.PROFIT! Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Ash on July 25, 2008, 10:37:45 PM I've been wishing for years that they'd switch back to glass.
Beverages taste different in a plastic container. And not for the better. :thumbdown: Especially when it comes to soda. I remember those old vending machines that dispensed tall glass bottles of ice cold pop. My uncle had a machine just like the one below in front of his auto repair business for years and I remember every time I visited when I was a kid he'd give me 50 cents to buy a soda. We'd stand out front, each of us drinking a soda, talking and watching traffic go by. And I always remember how filthy his hands were holding that soda bottle because he had been working on a car just minutes before. Glass bottles aren't just about the taste...they also evoke strong memories of my childhood. (http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/4186/1960spepsicooler01ii6.jpg) (http://imageshack.us) An ice cold Mt. Dew, Pepsi or Coke tastes 10 times better when drank out of a glass bottle. Why is that? Anyone know? Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: AndyC on July 26, 2008, 12:00:06 PM I don't know exactly why, but I agree drinks do taste better out of glass than they do out of plastic or metal. I'd say a glass bottle tastes best, followed by a can, and then a plastic bottle.
I also have memories of glass bottles. My parents used to buy the 750mL glass bottles of pop (now considered a single serving) in the days before two-litre plastic bottles. Mainly, though, they would just buy flats of cans. I used to look at the little individual bottles of Coke at the local variety stores and want one. They are such a classic image of drinking pop. Just picture Santa with his bottle of Coke or any number of old TV shows and movies - always that little bottle of pop that looks so refreshing. It was more expensive than cans or large bottles (a fraction of what a can costs today), so my parents never bought them. Wasn't until I was old enough to ride my bike to the store and spend my own money that I started to enjoy a bottle of Coke now and then. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Patient7 on July 27, 2008, 01:27:34 AM An ice cold Mt. Dew, Pepsi or Coke tastes 10 times better when drank out of a glass bottle. Why is that? Anyone know? I bet small pieces of plastic come off and you can taste it, just not see it. You never hear of glass being stripped apart. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: BTM on August 01, 2008, 12:58:04 PM Speaking of bottled water, anyone see that ep of Penn and Teller's Bulls**t that they did on bottled water? They had a segment where the crew took over a posh, expensive (ie overpriced) restaurant and offered customers samples from a "water list" (yeah, like a wine list, except with water) telling the customers they could get free samples of exotic (and expensive) waters from around the world, imported to the restaurant.
Anyway, they gave the customers samples of various "exotic" waters, and the customers (even those you had tasted multiple samples from "different" bottles) insisted each had a unique taste to it. Turns out ALL the water came from the back of the restaurant from a GARDEN HOSE. Also, you gotta love how a lot of bottled water companies put pictures of pristine mountain steams and whatnot on their bottles as though Now, to be fair, I do buy distilled water on occasion, but that's only because it's the best type for my CPAP machine. When I'm done with the empty gallons, I filled some of them with tap water and keep in my refrigerator so I always have cold water on stock. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Andrew on August 01, 2008, 01:14:11 PM We keep 2 cases of bottled water on hand, but soley as emergency supplies. I drink water from the tap all the time. When we bought a fridge we got one with water in the door, so that it could go through a filter and remove any odors. Honestly, the water from the aquifer at our new house (it's a small company that supplies homes in our area) tastes great to me.
The thread timing amused me, because I was working on the second installment in the zombie plan series a few weeks ago and mention bottled water. Quote I only drink bottled water. Stockpile a few cases of Aquafina in the basement. Once that runs out, drink tap water. It's what you have been drinking all along. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Saucerman on May 28, 2009, 06:30:34 AM I remember those old vending machines that dispensed tall glass bottles of ice cold pop. Thank you. Pop, not "soda"! Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Ed, Ego and Superego on May 28, 2009, 10:17:15 AM When I travel or am forced to eat out of vending machines and or convienance shops, I tend for bottled water. I get so sick of drinks that have corn syrup as the first ingredient or fake falvorings, and I don't much like juices. So on that front I'm glad its there. BUt day-to-day I drink tap water, though its not easy where my folks live, they have some NASTY water in Omaha. I tend to re-use water bottles until they almost crumble to fake-plankton (thanks Ulthar).
-Ed Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Raffine on May 28, 2009, 10:30:02 AM A dentist friend of mine told me there has been a dramatic increase in tooth decay since the rise in popularity of bottle water because folks don't get the benefit of the fluoride from tap water any more.
That's his theory, at least. I bought a bottle of water months ago and constantly refill it with both filtered and plain tap water, and I keep it in the freeezer. A certain plan for brain cancer, rumor has it! Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: ghouck on May 28, 2009, 02:03:34 PM I get bottled water when I stop on a long drive, and never else. The only reason I get it is that it's not nearly as bad for you as soda is. If I had my s**t together, I'd bring a bottle of water with me, but, that would be a miracle. Other than that, I either drink from the tap, or filtered tap water. In the Penn and Teller's BS episode mentioned earlier, it was said that glass was the only recycling effort that actually made sense or was worth the money.
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Jim H on June 02, 2009, 11:53:02 AM Quote I don't know exactly why, but I agree drinks do taste better out of glass than they do out of plastic or metal. I'd say a glass bottle tastes best, followed by a can, and then a plastic bottle. It definitely does. In fact, if I pour tap water that's been in some plastic bottles long enough into a glass, it still tastes bad. I might add that some higher quality plastics don't affect the taste this way. For example, those red pebbled texture bar cups never seem to alter the taste. But yeah, I'm with Cheeze here... I want glass to make a come back, especially for the occasional pop I drink. You can get it in glass, but it costs a lot more and is usually in those tiny bottles. Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Raffine on June 02, 2009, 12:20:08 PM If the basis makes you to choice what to drink,it easy to you to determine,thanks for that. _________________ Refrigerator Filters ([url]http://www.SPAMMED[/url] URL/) I like turtles! Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Saucerman on June 02, 2009, 01:10:08 PM I feel like this link is fairly relevant to the discussion at hand -- just change soda to water: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27642 (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27642)
Title: Re: Bottled Water Faces Rising Tide of Criticism Post by: Andrew on June 04, 2009, 06:11:18 AM Topic is now locked due to repeated spammer attempts to post to it.
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