Spreading wild lies about bottled water
July 28, 2009 by Tom GuayPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, News
Brace yourselves for a flood of lies about bottled water.
Did you know that bottled water:
- makes acid rain fall on playgrounds
- is the primary cause of restless leg syndrome
- causes blindness in puppies, and
- contains 98% melted ice caps and 2% polar bear tears?
These and other lies will be popularized this summer as part of a “Tappening.” It’s all part of a campaign to raise awareness of the environmental hazards associated with bottled water and the joys of tap water. Tappening was created by Mark DiMassimo, co-founder of the DiMassimo Goldstein marketing firm.
The group is asking consumers to help spread these and other lies as part of its “start a lie” campaign. Click here for details.
The goal is to encourage consumers and companies to rely on tap water and avoid bottled water. The Tappening campaign harps on a long list of problems that make bottled water decidedly not green or eco-friendly because it’s energy intensive and wastes resources. For example, the PET plastic used to bottle the water is not easy to recycle. More details are here.
Now a green business will have to avoid providing bottled water for its employees. Using bottled water could end up as a bad mark against a Wal-Mart supplier if the retail giant keeps track of suppliers’ plastic and packaging recycling. Wal-Mart just announced it will create green labels for all the products that it sells. Click here for the Wal-Mart initiative. One wonders whether Wal-Mart will stop selling bottled water!
Meanwhile, the tide is turning on bottle water. Congress held hearings this month to consider a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that concludes there’s no proof that bottled water is safer than tap water. GAO report is here.
This is echoed by a report by the Environmental Working Group that notes that most water distributors fail to identify where their water comes from. The group’s report is here.
Tags: bottled water, dimassimo goldstein, green business, recycling, tappening, Wal-Mart
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July 30th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Can we just put a 5 cent refund on ALL plastic bottles? Why Michigan just does “carbonated” beverages is beyond me.
Can you envision the less fortunate might pick them up on the roadways to collect a little money. Didn’t we all do that as kids for candy money?
July 30th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I would still rather my kids grab a bottle of water.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:55 am
What’s wrong with the TRUTH?
July 30th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Plastic in not a natural product its a man made product combining items. If we can find away to create it can’t we find away to break in down and render it to a harmless state. Heck we put people on the moon and we can’t do this?
July 30th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Why a “start a lie” campaign? There are more than enough internet hoaxes out there that we waste our time reading. We don’t need to read lies. I have serious doubts about the ethical standards the DiMassimo Goldstein marketing firm follows. Maybe someone should look at everything else they do if they intend to use lies as a marketing campaign. This will backfire on them.
I agree that getting a 5 cent refund on plastic bottles would be the best way to cut down on plastic waste.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I heard that the bottle companies pay a guy to pee just a little bit in every water bottle to give it an exotic flavor of watermelon bubble gum… which they also pay him to chew.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Other than claims that are slightly more irrational than usual, what makes this campaign different from any other marketing campaign? The difference is that they are honest enough to disclose that their marketing statements are lies at the outset!
July 30th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Plastica can be broken down, the only problem is that it is costlier to do this than it is to create new plastic.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
As with most inventions of chemistry, we invent stuff by accident. The oops from one experiment turns out to be the newest and greatest ‘sliced bread’ invention. Just because we know how we made it, doesn’t mean we know how to break it apart.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I think this campaign will backfire. It will make people think that anything negative said about bottled water is false. It’s a stupid idea.
I still prefer to drink mountain spring water. Tap water is full of toxins, even if you filter it, you can’t filter out the flouride they put in it, nor can you remove the trace amounts of medications in it. Tap water is not fit to drink.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
If it’s cost than what’s the real cost if we don’t and if it’s truly a oops then during the time it’s been around another oops should have or has happened and may have been bought to shelf
July 31st, 2009 at 4:59 am
The convience of bottled water is mostly what sells it. Michigan doesn’t put a deposit on water bottles because they can make more money taking in some 800 trucks a week of garbage from Toronto, Canada and charge them a hefty fee.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:30 am
It may be true that bottle water leaves a carbon foot print. Making the bottles transporting empty and full bottle. But we freeze the bottles use them as ice and can drink them on a trip instead of dumping the water on the ground. Saves space and more efficient.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Florida complains that our landfills will be completely full in less than 10 years. And I see hundreds of plastic bottles, etc. out for trash pick-up in the morning when we already have curbside recycling pick-up too. If the State of Florida would offer a couple cents to turn in items like plastic bottles, billions of them would probably be recycled because that speaks to people’s wallets. Their hearts and minds are obviously not listening.
I will keep recyling everything I can whether I get paid or not because it’s the right thing to do. You’ll never hear me say “Yeah, but what’s in it for me to recyle?” Idiots.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:06 am
People are so mis-informed about where the bottled water comes from. Let’s just say from the ground which is exactly where all of the trace amounts of medications end up when people flush them down the toliet or drain. Check out your states Environmental sites to see how these drugs are affecting the aquatic wildlife; I know of no truely cost effective process for the complete removal of these drugs.
As your childs Pediatrician why so many young children are having hormonal issues.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I all for recycling and the refund part but where are you going to turn these plastic bottles in at? Retailers who sell the product are not going to have enough room to store all these bottles. If you go to a recycle center not all areas in the country have one close by you could go to. I don’t know where there would be on in my area in north-central Illinois since I do not do Chicago traffic. I remember as a kid that all soda bottles were glass and we returned them to the grocery store for deposit money, but those bottles took up a lot of space the grocer could have used for product placement.
As for bottled water, I prefer the taste, our tap water doesn’t taste that great. I will continue to buy and recycle the bottles.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Um, a lot of bottled water is tap water. If the lable states: bottled from a municiple source, it’s tap water.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:37 am
The problem with plastic is it is not worth anything. The cost in making it is little, and the expense that is there is in shaping it. Making plastic from recycled materials also makes an inferior product. There is a great paper by a professor from Clemson. Where he does the cost benefit analysis of recycling. Apparently there are more costs and more pollution involved in recycling most products than making new. With the exception of Aluminum, Copper and other metals… Paper, Plastic, and other such goods cost more and pollute more and cost more to recycle than making new ones. Plus the creation of new paper encourages new plant growth.
No this is not lie, smear.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:57 am
No wonder “marketers” and public relation consultants and pollsters have little or no credibility left. Advertising and public relations firms more often then not debase the fundamental value (whatever intrinsic value IT might actually have) of whatever they touch. This outcome will be produced whenever they seek to misrepresent and thus to deceptively market and advertise any product or idea.
A lie is an immoral choice and act, except in the most extenuating circumstances. Telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is the ONLY communications that is not intended to misinform, abuse and manipulate the listener, reader or watcher, i.e. the general public. Both State Fascists and Communist Fascists from the last and the most violent century would envy the secret surveilance, growing censorship and omnipresent propaganda power that western corporate media exert every day over individuals, our civil society and our governments.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Then maybe we need to start rationing how much new plastic can be made every year. Make the corporations do some recycling – and make the consumer recycle at home. Reuse those plastic bottles or get used to drinking filtered tap water at home. Maybe instead of disposable consumers would be forced to use reusable cups and botltles. Our society has gotten so spoiled that we don’t want to be inconvienced in the slightest — including putting those huge landfills where we don’t have to look at them!!
August 6th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I remember the first plastic bottle of water I ever drank. I immediately realized that Grandpa was right when he said we’d be buying our water before too long. This was in 1972. The second thing, which my cousin pointed out while on a fishing trip, was the name on that bottle. “Evian”. Now say and spell that backwards.
Most of the comments above are correct and valid. One thing I have found that reduces my families use of plastic bottles, is we first purchased a water cooler/heater. Then purchased two large bottles of water (about 5 gallons) which we refill at an r.o. station.
I personally use an eco-canteen for mobility and for our ‘ice chest’ ice, we clean and refill our old milk jugs and deposit those into the deep freezer. Now we never get to the lake and realize we forgot to buy ice.
So far, I’ve noticed a reduction in the amount of garbage produced and our children have even gotten their friend’s parents to do the same just by mentioning it to them. Just goes to show, common sense is as contagious as stupidity.
I agree with Essie that wallets tend to listen better than hearts and minds. What a pity. And I also think that plastic bottles have no place in our landfills. With a lifespan of 400 to 1000 years, plastic should be recycled and reused. We can afford to research ways to clean up and shave cost on recycling all plastic products.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
The big hits on bottled water involve price, lack of quality control, and waste of resources. American tap water is by and large as pure or purer than the vast majority of bottled water. This is due to EPA regulations and specs. As for impurities such as Flouride, you can filter anything out if you want to. Just run it over some calcium, Fourine loves that more than anything else. Other impurities can be filtered out chemically or with micron filters. You just have to want to do it and be willing to spend the money. Anyone who can afford to drink bottled water can afford to buy the filtration systems.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
WHen trying to locate a recycler for these plastic bottles which have no economic future or value now causes another problem. WHO is going to pay for those bottles to be recycled? Homeowners just throw them in with their MSW, no recycling operation wnats them so we can’t sell them; local governments have no money to offset the recycling costs so most end up in landfills. What happens when all of the landfills are full or closed; where or who is going to take these and many other items which remain a constant question and problem to our environment.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I am surprised by the comments on this subject. the cost for recycling these products is not great. our facility currently utilizes over 2 million pounds each month of ground bottle flake to produce our products. this is a great economical advantage for us and we are continuing to increase our abilities to use more. at the end of 2010 we should be utilizing as much as 4 million pounds each month. the processors that sort and grind this material do however use electricity and water to perform this task. the problem is at the individual level as well as local waste management to make it easier for families to recycle. we have in my area recycle centers that have replaced the garbage dumps from days of old. getting individuals to set up individual trash bins for plastic, metal, glass, paper, etc is the challenge. as Americans we are spoiled and lazy. it is too easy just to toss everything in the trash. 5 cents per bottle will change that. we still have a long way to go as a nation to become green. as far as the water,, $1.49 for a 16oz bottle, come on! I have a $39 filter I put my tap water through that is good for 800 gallons. besides, where do you thing that water really comes from.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Karl H. says he is suprised by the comments; and that the cost for recycling these products is not great, who is he kidding?
Recycling center takes the plastic bottles from the public for free, the center must have an attendant to assist the public – LABOR COST; someone has to pick up the container when full – TRANSPORTATION COST AND DRIVER LABOR; delivery to a recycling center, they charge you for dropping off the container or material, COST PER TON OR POUND.
Karl H. where do you think this money for those expenditures comes from, the sky! Really, dude before you speak look at the cycle which takes place before it gets to your facility, get a clue and come out to a local municipal govt. location and watch how the system works.
August 7th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
sure there is a cost, I didn’t say there wasn’t, you know who pays the cost for those materials that are recycled? the end user pays that cost. the plastic recycler does not get those bales of bottle for free! I know, I am half owner of a plastic recycling operation. we purchase materials from other brokers who in turn purchase from recycle facilities around the country. yes purchase. those facilities charge a fee to sort that plastic. depending on the municipality is how much you pay per bail of PET, typically around 21 cents per pound. the plastic recycler will then re-sort the plastic (as we do) grind the material. wash the material and turn around and sell to the end user for between 37-55 cents a pound depending on quality. I have been to many of these operations in my 25 year career in this industry. at the facility I am currently head engineer for, we currently spend about $880,000 each month ($10.5 million per year)to purchase recycled bottle flake. and are scaling up to double that capacity. I do know the cycle. the demand for recycled plastic is high. recycle centers that are not taking advantage of that income should be looking for creative ways to capture that revenue.
August 7th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Sorry, Karl didn’t mean to make you mad but here where we receive plastic from the public we can’t charge and when we try to get rid of the plastic bales we are charged ourselves. Used to get around $ .05 per pound but that went out the window here lately and with government cut backs we don’t have support funds coming in from the local govt. to offset the expenses. If you know where I can send plastic bales to seel please let me know. Charlottesville, VA is my location.
August 7th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
David, I’m not mad at all, just stating what I know from experience. as far as selling bales. if you are in the business then you definately have avenues you can use to help create an income from this material. depending on how much you actually are collecting. most of the recyclers we deal with are very large and process millions of pounds a month. if you have PET bales that are pretty clean with minimal trash it has value to every recyler out there. what I have found with some bales coming from land fill or other municipalities is the huge amount of just pure trash in the bale, old milk cartons, newspaper etc. an 800lb bale may only yield about 500lbs of PET that is definatly not worth sorting at our level.
how many bales do you accumilate in a week? I know where Charlottesville, Va is. I am in the Charlotte NC area myself. if you have a suitable supply of PET, I can definatly find a home for it and put some revenue back in your budget. as far as the earlier comments, I did say that the problem lies with individuals who purchase and dispose of these bottles, most of us are guilty. the other comment was in support for adding a 5cent deposit, talk about creating a value. people are catching on though. if waste management facilities had the resources to set a container for collecting as well as ability to crush and bail PET bottles it would definatly help. for a waste mangement facility to wade through trash and pick and sort? no that is not cost effective, I agree 100%. I have spent a good bit of time oversees on projects directly related to recycling of plastic, PET in particular. Europe is so far ahead of us in recycling it’s a little embarrassing
August 7th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Karl,
We have a collection center where we receive # 1 and # 2 plastic (co-mingled) and it is then baled into 950 # bales which are loaded 30 to 40 to a trailer (depends on length of trailer). Even though I have a small operation we bale 5 to 6 bales every Friday.
Does having co-mingled 1 & 2 make our product worth less money? Other than having that we don’t have trash, mik cartons, or newspaper in with the plastic its just 1 & 2. David
August 10th, 2009 at 6:01 am
[...] water now on global warming hit listSpreading wild lies about bottled waterTop 10 stories of 2009 (so far…)Is it too easy to claim to be green? Congress wants to [...]
August 20th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
We can’t forget another important issue…glass is not allowed by pools, at beaches, at ball parks, or even schools for fear that the glass will break and injure someone. If you can’t have glass then plastic bottles or cans are the only option. Plastic, when recycled, can be reused in many different things including clothing such as jeans, shirts, etc.
The biggest issue the green community needs to work on is getting people to recycle. Without recycling of course these bottles will sit in landfills. People have to remember it’s those that are irresponsible and don’t recycle that are causing the problem, we have to be the answer and teach those problem people to recycle. It may take a little more time but not really. Additionally, why would you put those plastic containers that you paid a redemption value on in the recycling container when you can take it down and get your money back! It’s a great way to teach kids and let them keep the money.
Sure the environmentalists pick on the bottled water companies, but when have we seen them go after Coke or Pepsi! Soda containers account for about 85%-95% of the plastic bottles out there! Bottled water doesn’t even account for 5% with juices taking us less than that. The problem isn’t the contents, the problem is lack of education about recycling or an ‘I just don’t care’ attitude.
Once you get to the root of the problem…start there. If it’s bottles in the landfill then ask – who, what, when, where, why and how! If you tackle that problem first, perhaps there won’t be a problem to deal with at all.
That’s my 2 cents!
August 24th, 2009 at 8:19 am
When will we start using corn to make our bottles. It’s renewable and biodegradable!
August 24th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Why not bring reuseable water bottles from walmart with good clean tap water in them??? No plastic in the landfill, not high cost of transportation of the water and the bottle, and no glass etc to break. Oh yeah, and no designer water to feel smug about.
January 7th, 2010 at 9:50 am
[...] Spreading wild lies about bottled water [...]
January 11th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
If it costs too much to recycle plastic bottles, then why will your city garbage company pick them up for free? And, they will take plastic that doesn’t have a CRV value. I think recycling is like globla warming issues. There are PROS and there are CONS, but are we being told the truth about both?