Ninja Pirate Books

Bear a plastic water bottle to your own risk; the pressure of widespread opinion is turning on you. From big rating documentaries, to papers and campaigns, the hottest issue on the soapbox is the menace that is bottled water and the waste its industry creates.

The producing, transportation and removal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles requires large quantities of water alongside energy, and pumps out tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the recent documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig says “1500 water bottles end up in landfill every second – that’s 30 million water bottles a day! We wanted to show people just how much waste is generated by bottled water.” The Tapped team are pushing the film with their across-America roadshow, taking pledges from donors to reduce their water bottle waste and taking their empty plastic water bottle for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.

A similar film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. Created by Annie Leonard of the critically acclaimed ‘The Story of Stuff’, this animated film displays the process that is behind tricking Americans into purchasing more than hundreds of millions of bottles of water a week, as opposed to a few cents cost for clean tap water. Find her animation on You Tube.

With her book ‘Bottlemania’, author Elizabeth Royte explores one of the biggest marketing heists of the twentieth century and provides a sudden environmental wakeup call. She investigates the red flags we must at some point understand. Who has ownership of the water? What happens when a bottled-water company holds your town’s water source? Is the water coming from the tap completely safe? What is the environmental factor of making, transporting and waste of a plastic water bottle?

Politicians around the globe are beginning to realise that they are required to take responsibility – notably when the buildings where they work are major consumers of bottled water. How often do we witness a politician at a function drinking from a water bottle. Surely they can locate a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, stated “Cities and states are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on bottled water, and that’s not to mention what’s spent to deal with all the plastic bottles that are thrown out.”

In July 2009, the NSW rural town of Bundanoon became the first place in Australia to stop the sale of bottled water. Some 60 townships in the States and a handful of towns in Canada and the UK have now ceased spending taxpayer money on bottled water.

No doubt these dilemmas will be discussed at World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the planet’s most urgent water-related events.

Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.

You are doing the right thing for the planet by filling up at home and carrying a reusable water bottle and you’ve chosen a safe, non-toxic bottle-but if it’s not kept clean then it may not be healthy.

Whether your drink bottle is a stainless steel bottle, SIGG bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming in the bottle.

Wash your drink bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off every day where possible.

Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean water bottle with Distilled White Vinegar and let it soak for 24 hours. Then rinse with warm water mixed with one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), rinse out and let dry. Spots inside the bottle that look like “corrosion” are most likely a mineral deposit.

Fill your bottle with filtered water wherever possible. It tastes so much better, but also because water contains different minerals in every area this may affect what happens inside your bottle.

Do not allow liquids such as fruit juice to ferment inside the bottle.

With all reusable water bottles you can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and a specially-designed SIGG bottle cleaning brush, or simply a baby bottle brush. Only ever use a soft brush on aluminium bottles with lining like SIGG so as not to damage the lining. Stainless steel water bottles like Klean Kanteen and Nathan can handle a hard brush.

While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, it is recommended to not put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher powders are caustic, so they will eat into the metal of your bottle and damage the exterior pattern. Bottle tops should also not be put in the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.

Never freeze metal bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside. Water does not always expand in a predictable direction! Freezing plastic water bottles is also not advisable because it may cause the plastic to breakdown and toxins to leach. It is fine to place your bottle in the refrigerator.

Tips on cleaning your water bottle brought to you by Biome Eco Stores Australia.