Take a plastic water bottle at your own demise; the tide of public perspective is turning on you. From high rating documentaries, to books and campaigns, the hot issue in our lives is the terror around bottled water and the waste that the industry demonstrates.

The processing, transportation and disposal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles requires large use of water as well as energy, and produces ridiculous quantities of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the hot new documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig claims “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 team of Tapped are publicizing the film with their across-America roadshow, receiving money from people to reduce their water bottle abuse and swapping their used plastic water bottle in exchange for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.

A short film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. From Annie Leonard of the critically acclaimed ‘The Story of Stuff’, this animation displays the methodology that amounts to tricking Americans into consuming more than half a billion bottles of water a week, instead of a few cents cost for tapwater. Look up this short film on You Tube.

Through her book ‘Bottlemania’, author Elizabeth Royte demonstrates one of the monumental marketing heists of the twentieth century and demands a sudden environmental alarm bell. She asks the questions we must inevitably deal with. Who has ownership of our water distribution? What could happen when a bottled-water corporation seizes your town’s water source? Is the water coming from the tap absolutely safe? What really is the environmental footprint of producing, transporting and disposal of every plastic water bottle?

Politicians all around the nation are acknowledging that they need to do something – notably when the institutions at which they serve are high consumers of bottled water. How often do we see a politician at a press conference drinking from a water bottle. It is probable that they must be able to locate a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, told “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 community from Australia to stop the sale of bottled water. Around 60 townships in the United States and some cities in Canada and the UK have lately ceased the expenditure of taxpayer money on bottled water.

It is doubtless that this problem will be brought to the table come World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the environment’s most problematic water-related issues.

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

Tags: water bottle

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.

Tags: how to clean water bottle, SIGG, water bottle