| 070 | Green Bottled Water? | 2009-04-15 |
Last week as we attended the Green Expo at Lipscomb University, a friend bought a bottle of water. On inspecting the bottle she brought it to my attention that the company was claiming to be the "first imported CarbonNeutral certified Spring Water." Hmmm.
Curiosity led me to check out their claims. Yes, they are a very green company. The plant is powered by hydro-electricity. They use packaging that is mostly recyclable. They ship the water only in empty, unused areas of cargo ships. Wow, it’s pretty impressive. Check out their site - Icelandic Glacier H2O.
So what’s my problem? If GM made a green manufacturing plant and used recyclable materials to make a Hummer would they be a CarbonNeutral company? Probably - yes, but the Hummer, in my mind, still would not be a green vehicle.
It’s not just the manufacturing procedures that makes the product green, usage is also a factor. So would drinking ANY bottled water be greener than filtering your own tap water and drinking it from a reusable container? No. How could it be? From a press release Icelandic Glacier’s Chairman says we, "further our commitment to delivering consumers a product they can drink with a clear conscience." Clear conscience? Only if you think that the 1.5 million tons of plastic that is used each year for bottled water grows on trees!
I am afraid the certification seems to be mostly a publicity ploy by Icelandic Glacier and their distributor and part owner Anheuser-Busch. Perhaps they are trying hard to bring salvation to the plastic bottle industry. Icelandic Glacier does seem to be manufacturing a greener bottle of water, but it is still... a bottle of water.
Links:
http://www.icelandicglacial.com/
http://www.allaboutwater.org/environment.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS133108+26-Sep-2008+BW20080926