I have recently heard some startling numbers in regards to Smart Water. I work for a company that is doing some marketing for Aquafina and amongst the materials I saw this:



Smart Water’s 20oz bottle weighs 48% more than Aquafina’s 20oz bottle



Seems like a lot for a seemingly eco-concious brand like Smart Water. I mean half

again the amount of plastic just seems a bit much to me. What do you guys

think?

WOW. That's very interesting! I'm a big Smart Water drinker, but this makes me upset. I can't think of a single reason (other than maybe cycling) why they'd need a heavier bottle. I suppose Aquafina's bottles are pretty flimsy, but that's a lot of plastic, either way!

The plastic consists of chemicals that can leach into the water and cause serious health issues, so I avoid drinking beverages that come in plastic bottles.

Water that comes out of my own water filter, and is carried in my own reusable bottle, uses NO plastic at all.

That's really smart. Do you happen to know of any purchasable (or buildable!) water filtering devices that are plastic-free and safe? (I'm thinking of Brita water filters - is that plastic harmful, as well?)

I'm not familiar with the Brita brand units, other than having seen their advertising. I have one of the GE brand units that mounts under the sink. The plastic in that case is PVC, not the clear stuff they use for beverage bottles. The clear bottles are made of a plastic called PET, which contains a chemical called BPA. The BPA leaches out of the plastic into the beverage. PVC does not contain BPA.

Ohhh, interesting! I didn't know that about PVC... I will have to look into a more permanent water filtering solution!

We have been using PVC for water pipes, both in buildings and under roads, for about a generation. There's lots of it underground today. We think it's safe, but new PVC pipe can impart a slight taste to the water. That taste issue, it seems to me, means it must leach something, at least when it is new.

The newest thing in water pipe is PEX. PEX is cross-linked polyethylene, which is also a plastic. New PEX can also impart a taste to the water when it is new. They are using a lot of it because it is inexpensive, extremely damage-resistant, and very easy to install. (In particular, it doesn't burst when the water freezes.)

So with plastic pipe, the issue not whether it leaches, but what it leaches. And, how much it leaches before it stops. All leaching must stop eventually, because there is a finite amount of the material.

BPA, which leaches from the PET plastic in clear beverage bottles and soda-can liners, is a known endocrine disruptor. I'm not sure exactly what that means, other than it is thought to have some bad health effects. There is a wiki page at, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A , that discusses the issue and has many links. I think the leaching problem in beverage bottles is particularly bad, because the material is new in every bottle. So, all of the beverage is exposed to new plastic from the time it is filled until the consumer drinks it.

We used to use copper or galvanized steel for water pipe. Both are known to be safe as long as there is no lead in the joints. The problem with galvanized pipe is durability. Galvanized pipe lasts about 50 years, which seems like a long time until you realize there is a piece of it under the cement slab under your 50-year-old house. Copper lasts basically forever, unless it gets electrolytic corrosion (which can be prevented by a zinc ground). But copper is very expensive. And both are labor-intensive to install.

There probably is no perfect water-pipe material. Glass breaks easily. Metals can corrode, and are very expensive. Plastics can have chemical reactions, and can leach chemicals. But you cannot completely avoid all plastics, so the best we can really do is to try to avoid the ones that have known bad health effects.

That's pretty much all we can ask for at this point. Thank you so much for the information.

Agreed. Even if plastics are inevitable it seems so off-putting that a seemingly forward thinking company like Glaceau would use so much extra plastic.

To put it into perspective: That much plastic in a year amounts to the weight of several hundred fully-stocked Hybrids. I think that they should reconsider their packaging if it uses so much extraneous materials.