Throughout the nineties and much of the noughties, Ireland saw an exponential growth in sales of bottled water. What would have previously been considered an unheard-of extravagance came to be regarded as the norm. Many people would think nothing of buying water every day, but what are the true economic and environmental costs of bottled water?
Bottled Water: The Emperor’s New Beverage
The rise of the bottled water phenomenon in Ireland can be viewed as the ultimate triumph of marketing over common sense. Advertising and marketing professionals must not have been able to believe their luck when they realised that they would be able to charge people - and charge them a goodly sum, too - for something that comes out of their taps at home for free. The bottled water companies’ marketing coup is remarkable in its audacity. They somehow managed to convince otherwise rational individuals that (i) there is some sort of significant difference in quality between water bought in a bottle from that found in any tap; and (ii) that one brand of bottled can be superior to its competitors’ exactly identical product. Millions of euro have been spent in efforts to convince the consumer that one company’s H2O is better than the other brands’ identical product. Who pays for these attempts at product differentiation of the world’s most generic product?
The person who purchases bottled water, obviously.
The price of bottled water varies widely, from a few cents to a couple of euro per litre, but it’s hard to justify paying good money for water at any price (particularly at a price more expensive per litre than that of petrol). And the anomalies of the bottled water industry don’t stop there: not only are people will people pay for water, they’ll actually go the lengths of having it imported from other countries! It seems crazy to import water from places like France to Ireland, the wettest country in Europe.
The cost to the environment
Apart from the economic cost of shipping water from country to country (fuel isn’t exactly cheap at the moment), there is also a significant cost to the environment. The best way to illustrate the carbon footprint associated with bottled water is the case of Fiji Water. As most people will be aware, Fiji is a small group of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In order for Fiji Water to sell their product, they must import many hundreds of tonnes of plastic from China to the remote archipelago in order to make the bottles (lots of fossil fuels burned up right there), then ship the finished product thousands of miles of across the globe to its North American and European markets (oodles more carbon released into the atmosphere).
Alternatives
There is an alternative to buying water in plastic bottles. Reusing old drinks bottles is will save a lot of money, or you can invest in a stylish steel, aluminium or high-quality plastic water bottle. While these bottles aren’t cheap, you’ll only ever have to buy one, as they last for a lifetime.
And the next time that you’re out for a meal and the waiter asks whether you’d like still or sparkling, just tell him that tap is fine.
Tags: Eating out, money saving tips
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