Bottled water ban

I read or heard someplace (too lazy to look it up, lol) that San Francisco is banning bottled water. Bottled water has a big footprint (PET bottles.) In the USA tap water has very strict standards, and one can get all kinds of filters to further post-treat it. At my company, instead of the big 5 gallon jugs, they have put in post-treatment systems that have a carbon filter and UV to destroy the chlorine taste. It works great!

What is your opinion about a BW ban? One drawback I can immediately see is at airports, where one cannot bring any liquid on a plane that has not been purchased/obtained locally. So variances would have to be put in place. But other than that...

They just banned it for city employees, not in the whole city.

As far as the footprint, PET is highly recyclable, so why not just tell the city employees to recycle the bottles?

I know they were trying to get people to NOT leave them in their vehicles when it's hot outside. The plastic bottles are supposed to leach chemicals into the water that lead to cancer or some such thing. It makes sense.

Banning bottled water... not too sure about that one. I'm sure there are many people out there who live where the water is acrid tasting or just plain nasty and it's easier for them to use the bottled water than to purchase an entire water treatment program. At the school where I work, I never drink the water. It comes out of the faucets brownish and rusty, and sometimes there are black things floating in the water. It' gross. The school doesn't do anything about it. They could care less and say "Oh, we've had it tested, it's fine!" Bull crap!! It is nasty water! It smells bad, looks bad and tastes bad. So, I do take bottled water to school. Let's hope San Francisco's ban doesn't travel east!

Bottles leaching carcinogens into bottled water?

LMAO!

http://www.plasticsmythbuster.org/rumors.asp

I'm in San Francisco and I'm all for the ban. What a useless waste of money and resources buying bottled water is. I already pay for water through my water bills. San Francisco has good water; I use a Brita filter, but IMHO water is water. I have better things to do with my $$ and Mother Earth appreciates the fewer plastic bottles rolling around in the environment.

I mostly buy it for the convenience and I must admit it does taste better to me :o I know bottled water is much less regulated that our tap water though.

Bottled Water:

In Alberta, the town of Strathmore has grown so quickly that it is running out of room for its sewage.

SO - it decided to put it into the Bow River, UPSTREAM from the very large Sikiska Nation (and a few other towns, no doubt).

The Siksika people raised a great outcry (who wouldn't), but Strathmore town council "fixed" the problem by trucking in bottled water for the nation.

:eek: :mad: :eek: :mad: :eek: :mad:

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

Bottles leaching carcinogens into bottled water?

LMAO!

http://www.plasticsmythbuster.org/rumors.asp

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LH, my brother has been sending me lots of info about NOT microwaving in plastic and styrofoam. Your site is making me question all of this. He has also recently sent me info (I know this is off topic) about the fact that there is a possible link to Autism as a result of vaccines. I had heard of this before. Actually someone on Oprah had mentioned it when she did a show on Autism.

Honestly, all of these things surely do make one wonder. :confused: :confused: It is never wrong to keep trying to search for truth though.

I have very mixed feelings about bottle water. First...unless you look for it...most bottled water does not have flouride. The only fillings I have were cavities I developed when my family lived where there was unflourinated well water. I realize the amount of flouride needed for healthy teeth is very small and I probably get it just from the amount of tap water I drink to brush my teeth...but I still think it is a concern if you NEVER drink tap water.

Secondly, yes bottles are very recyclable. But that statement overlooks the energy involved in recycling. The bottles are not "re-filled" but melted down and remade...all that requires electricity, etc.

Come on down to the harbor in our town and count the water bottles washed up. :( :(

Now, instead of taking bottled water to the gym with me...I fill a reusable bottle with ice water. It goes in the dishwasher.

You can take an EMPTY water bottle through security and fill it from a drinking fountain in the secure area at US airports. I also saw this done in Heathrow.

So, yes....we use them. But I try and find other alternatives whenever I can.

Yes, it takes electricity to recycle plastics, but it takes far less electricity to recycle than to make new resin.

Most of the plastics in the body of your car are made from recycled PET.

Not every area in the US uses fluoridated water, and no one on a well is getting fluoride in that manner.

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

Yes, it takes electricity to recycle plastics, but it takes far less electricity to recycle than to make new resin.

Most of the plastics in the body of your car are made from recycled PET.

Not every area in the US uses fluoridated water, and no one on a well is getting fluoride in that manner.

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What??? No comeback for attempting to use alternatives??? :D :D

We live in an old city, on an old street with old pipes in an old house. Our water bill comes with a "Lead in your water" pamphlet, as in olden days, lead was commonly used to solder pipes together. We even had a literal lead pipe entering the house for natural gas, which astounded the men who came to replace our furnace shortly after we bought this house. Health and sanity are important to me. So we do not drink the tap water, but do drink bottled water, and use it for cooking, and always recycle the bottles.

Lead in your water doesn't have any taste, and the effects are cumulative, so I am not taking a chance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

Bottles leaching carcinogens into bottled water?

LMAO!

http://www.plasticsmythbuster.org/rumors.asp

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Hmmmm... guess I shouldn't believe everything my mother tells me, lol. I just found this on www.cancer.org as well:

The original version of this email begins by saying “Many are unaware of poisoning caused by re-using plastic bottles,” and says “bottles are safe for one-time use only; if you must keep them longer, it should be or no more than a few days, a week max, and keep them away from heat as well.” The email says the bottles contain DEHA, which it calls a potential carcinogen.

A newer (2007) version of the email quotes an unidentified doctor as saying women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car because the heat and the plastic of the bottle have certain chemicals that can lead to breast cancer.

Fact:

These emails are apparently based on a student’s college thesis. In fact, DEHA is not inherent in the plastic used to make these bottles, and even if it was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says DEHA "cannot reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer, teratogenic effects, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, gene mutations, liver, kidney, reproductive, or developmental toxicity or other serious or irreversible chronic health effects." Meanwhile, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), says diethylhexyl adipate "is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans."

So where will the City Employees go to gossip?

Oh, the humanity! :eek:

Sara,

No issues with using alternatives, as I try to when possible as well.

I've got no issues with doing what you can for the environment, (as evidenced by the money I just dumped into a more efficient heating system), I just take issue with the scare tactics used to promote environmentally concious living.

Maybe I'm odd but all the bottled water I've ever used tastes awful.
Plus, I hate lugging the stuff around. Transporting on a bus is no fun either.
I'll stick to our tap water. :)

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

Sara,

No issues with using alternatives, as I try to when possible as well.

I've got no issues with doing what you can for the environment, (as evidenced by the money I just dumped into a more efficient heating system), I just take issue with the scare tactics used to promote environmentally concious living.

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I am not sure what you consider "scare tactics"???? Just the truth about what is happening with the enviornment is scary enough.

I take issue with people thinking that because something is recyclable or made from renewable resources (as in paper) that there is no cost to the environment. People tend to overlook the cost of recycling or the cost of producing the product from a renewable resource. Producing paper consumes a huge amount of water and electricity for example.

And if telling people to recycle is all it takes, wouldn't this be a great world!

Bottled water here comes in glass bottles that are re-used, not just recycled. We have this kind of bottles since I was a kid. With beer it's the same.
When I was a kid, your vintner took his wine bottles back as well. We went to close-by Alsace, bought our supply and brought the bottles back next time.
Of course there are now PET bottles as well. Especially for French mineral water and for all the sizes you buy in aiports etc.
They are recycled.

Barbara, If you send me a case of good German beer I promise to send the bottles back for a refill!

HAH !!!! Now there's an offer you can't refuse Barbara. LOL :D

I've not seen much offer in it :confused: :p

It seems like a good idea to me. People still equate waste with "prosperity" and think recycling's for kooks and poor people. I suppose you could institute a return charge on water bottles like they do on pop bottles & beer cans, but they'd have to fight the distributors all over again.

Love, Columbine (who's discovered that fabulous bit of technology, the seltzer bottle - but can't convince her city to recycle the empty steel charger capsules!)

Columbine, even if your city won't recyce them, call a scrap metal place - they might.

A scrap dealer will take any steel. They may not pay you for it (Steel/iron are less than $.01/lb), but they will get into the recycling stream.

In the long run I can see how it would be cheaper having your own water purification system... however, has anyone TASTED my tap water?? It tastes like pool water. Downright nasty. Now I can't usually stand water to begin with, but at work I have been forcing myself to drink more during shows from the culligan and must say it's not too bad. But then I get home, and won't drink tap water even if my life depended on it. It's THAT bad.

Jessika,

I know that feeling all too well. The water in OK is no better.

When I go out to OK, regardless of how I get there, the first trip I make after checking in at the hotel is a run to get water. Pool water would be a polite description of the water there.

IF PET bottles were recycled, it wouldn't be so bad. Most of them end up in landfills. The bottles, when full, are heavy and cost a lot of money to transport. They had a thing just last night on the news trying to quantitate the "footprint". I'm all for the refill at your faucet plan, but I have good water where I live. Perhaps if bottle bills included water bottles (they typically do not) this may be a solution short of an outright ban.

As far as the leachable additives, it's highly unlikely. PET needs no process additives to be molded; it is what is called an "amorphous" polymer and when heated to a certain temperature, it becomes like soft taffy, and can be shaped any way. PVC (vinyl) is what has tons of phthalates, these are needed to make it soft, and there MAY be a link between these molecules and cancer.

So much for the chemistry lesson! :D

Wow! What an interesting thread! :D

Here in Oregon we have bottle and can deposits. They are refundable. Soon, it will be the same for bottled water. :)

I'm a simple person, but I like the huge 5 gallon jugs upside down in the cooler. I like pouring a glass and watching the bubbles go up :D

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Originally Posted by ratdogg81

I'm a simple person, but I like the huge 5 gallon jugs upside down in the cooler. I like pouring a glass and watching the bubbles go up :D

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Me to....that is just so cool.
I sometimes imagine what it would like look with a few goldfish inside. :D
Wom

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Originally Posted by ratdogg81

I'm a simple person, but I like the huge 5 gallon jugs upside down in the cooler. I like pouring a glass and watching the bubbles go up :D

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We have those at work, except they're much bigger. We call them "the culligan", hehe