A mountain of plastic water bottles the size of the Eiffel Tower – that is how much bottled water Europeans consumes every year. This is a rough estimate by the global household appliance maker Electrolux based on the fact that out of the staggering number of 50 billion litres of mineral water consumed in Europe every year, 84% is sold in plastic bottles*.
“The demand for bottled water results in heavy environmental costs – for the production of bottles but also for their transportation and disposal said Anna Forslund of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Anna Forslund continues, “We encourage people to drink tap water when safe. Time, money and resources should focus on sound ecosystem management and protection to secure clean water to everyone through communal water supplies”.
Pasquale Steduto, Chair of United Nations UN-Water agrees “We encourage people to drink tap water since bottled water results in heavy costs for the environment – for the production of bottles but also for their transportation and disposal”.
“Drinking tap water instead of bottled water is an important initiative to support. Bottled water is perceived by many people as safer and healthier than tap water but the truth is that in many cases tap water adheres to stricter purity standards than bottled water says Henrik Sundström, Vice-President, Group Environmental and Sustainability Affairs at Electrolux. Sundström continues, “We want to be at the forefront of developing solutions for a sustainable living. In response to the ever-increasing demand for carbonated drinking water, we have developed three new innovative products. Source, Brita and 4Springs all feature a function to chill, micro-filter and carbonate tap water without the unnecessary costs to the environment that is created by bottled water”.
*The data is kindly supplied by the leading global beverage research company Canadean Limited. The comparison of the mountain of plastic water bottles to the Eiffel Tower is based on an estimated number of 84 billion 50 cl water bottles.
