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Despite the noteworthy efforts of bottled water companies like Ethos and Biota, plastic bottles seem to be accumulating at an alarming rate, particularily in the developing world. (See this article in WBCSD) Part of it is fashion and paranoia in the United States, but part of it is grounded in legitimate distrust for the municipal water supplies that a generation ago were drunk from without so much as a second thought. What changed?
In the developing world, it’s obvious why people drink bottled water – tap water really isn’t safe as a general rule, but how many billions of plastic bottles can we handle? Even if they are reused or recycled? Hopefully bottled water companies will come to embrace non-plastic bottles, or at least attempt some better recycling programs than are currently in place. But more importantly, maybe we can get better guarantees from local governments that tap water is both safe and tasty.
