Bottled water consumption has been going down, which is great news. Along with all the backlash against water bottles, the economy may have played a part in reducing the $12 billion a year industry. Nestle, Coca-Cola, and Pepsico all saw drops in their sales. Maybe people are finally realizing that bottled water isnt that much better for you and that dumping water bottles is bad for the environment.

It also isnt as cool anymore and companies will now try to make new and different versions of flavored water as a marketing tool to drink the latest and greatest new cool drink. In 2007, Coca-Cola paid $4.1 billion for Glaceau, maker of the Vitaminwater brand, which 50 Cent happened to help create and continues to promote the flavored water as a healthy energy sports drink. Pepsi has been promoting the Sobe Lifewater as well and featured it in a Superbowl ad. 

via BusinessWeek

There have been a lot of criticism against bottled waters and there are movements that want to eliminate them completely. I am not sure if I would agree with getting rid of bottled waters.

Many City Halls are banning bottled waters such as in San Francisco and in North Carolina but that may not be the best solution. There are good reasons not to drink bottled water, but there are plenty of good reasons to drink it as well if you compare drinking water to juice or sodas since it is much healthier for you. If there are no bottled waters available, people may become more dehydrated or drink less healthier alternatives. I dont think banning bottled water is the solution. The problem is that people are not recycling the bottles, so if we find more ways to promote and incourage that, then the problem would be solved. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, Americans consumed 8.8 billion gallons of bottled water in 2007, which increased 6.1% from 2006. That number is most likely to increase. 8 out of 10 bottles do not get recycled, and that is causing a problem since standard water bottles are not compostable.

Since bottled water sales were $11.5 billion last year, second only to sodas, I am sure manufacturers would not let any kinds of significant bans happen. They do however need to make better efforts in getting the bottles recycled and find alternatives to the current bottles. What manufacturers can do is to use Biodegradable bottles like the company Biota in Colorado. The water bottles are both recyclable and compostable and use corn based polylactic acid (PLA) so that it will degrade within 75 to 80 days in a commercial composting situation. “BIOTA bottles need high heat, micro-organisms and high moisture levels to break down. A BIOTA PLA bottle will not degrade as rapidly in a home compost pile. When exposed to the necessary conditions, BIOTA bottles will break down into water, carbon dioxide and organic material.”

via FoxNews