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Evian? Don’t be naive…

June 17, 2008 at 2:47 pm

Drink tap water. It’s brilliant

The words of a water company? Surely not.
Surprising though it may seem, this is in fact a clear indication of Belu water company’s pure motives (although they might add: ‘…but if you are going to drink bottled water, drink ours’). Recycling can be difficult at the best of times but recycling plastic can be especially hard – many local councils still do not collect plastic recycling directly from homes, and, even if they do, the problem remains that a large quantity of the plastic we consume is not consumed at home. The most obvious case in point is bottled water.

We hardly need the figures from the British Soft Drinks Association to confirm the sensible guess that consumption of bottled water has been on the increase recently. Endless marketing campaigns about the benefits of hydration and purity have successfully embedded the idea that bottled water is tastier, cleaner and healthier for you. The result is that, according to Belu, the total spent on bottled water each year amounts to $100 billion. By way of contrast, they estimate that it would cost just $30 billion to reduce by half, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (part of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals).

So what makes Belu special? It seems that they are offering a fairly ideal solution to the problems of global water shortage and unnecessary pollution through the excessive consumption of plastic and glass used in bottled water. How? By being the first bottled water company to sell water in compostable bottles, which are, wait for it, made from corn (only the lid is conventional plastic). In addition, all profits go to fund clean water projects around the world.

The project has been championed by, amongst others, the Times restaurant critic Giles Coren, who terrorised restaurants that did not offer tap (or Belu) water freely, and there have been signs of a consumer backlash against bottled water. Given the chance, who would not opt for a conscience as clear as their bottled water? If you can have your cake and eat it, then so much the better.

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