Tapped – the movie: a bottled water tell all

On Saturday, I finally got a chance to see Tapped – a compelling documentary about the business of bottled water in the United States.   It was well worth my trek up to Mercer County Community College where Hackensack River Keeper was hosting the screening.  Not available for purchase yet, the movie is only available to groups willing to pay $175 and charge admission.   You can get a flavor for the movie by watching the 5 minute trailer.

I was most startled by the lack of regulation of bottled water.  Most bottled water (60-70%) is sold in-state and is therefore completely unregulated by any agency.    Bottled water that is transported across state lines is regulated by the FDA.  Do you know how many people at the FDA are devoted to this task?  Less than 1!  When the interviewer asked the poor woman, she admitted that she actually had other responsibilities, too!  WHAT? 

Another astonishing fact was that a 10 cent bottle deposit has increased the recycling rate of disposable plastic bottles to 97% in Michigan.   If plastic waste were the only problem posed by bottled water that would be a good solution.  

Tapped showed the impact of the bottled water industry on rural towns across America where ground water is being mined.  The arrogance of the multi-national corporations is disheartening.  In the face of local opposition, dropping water levels in wells and water bodies, and even during droughts,  they continue to pump water, bottle it, transport it, and sell it.

All those bottled water labels with pictures of pristine mountains portraying the product as pure and clean couldn’t be further from reality.  This eye-opening film is worth tracking down to see.  If you’re involved with any sort of environmental group, showing Tapped would be a great way to raise awareness and motivate supporters to drink tap water and a use a reusable bottle when on the go.

A new take on school fundraising

Aren’t you tired of being asked to buy wrapping paper, candy, popcorn, cookie dough, or magnets at your children’s schools? The offerings are often way overpriced, useless, or just plain bad tasting. Last fall, when I was trying to figure out what sort of environmental project to do at my son’s school, the PTO president complained to me about the girl scouts drinking bottled water at their meetings and how great it would be if they would use reusable bottles. It was like a lightening strike in my mind. YES! That is exactly what we need – reusable bottles for everyone! We convinced the PTO to sell stainless steel water bottles school-wide and make it a green fundraiser. Before it was all said and done, it was a town-wide school fundraiser, involving seven schools – the first one of its kind in town. We decided to price the bottles close to retail prices to keep them affordable and still generate some profit for the school. We ended up selling 1500 bottles to a school population of 3500 students and raising over $8000! This was truly something novel: we sold something useful and earth-friendly while raising money for the school. A win – win – win!

The ABCs of eliminating bottled water at your school

Bottled water has become so deeply entrenched in our society that some people can’t even imagine how to provide water at an event without it.  Say what?  Maybe I’m going to show my age here, but I actually remember living a good hydrated life, attending events, and even hosting events before anyone had thought of putting tap water in a disposable plastic bottle and charging 1000 times more for it!    Based on my experience BBW (before bottled water), I have come up with some ABCs for getting by without bottled water at your school with ease:  

water cooler

Access to tap water 

Provide access to drinking water throughout the school by maintaining water fountains and cleaning them daily.  Better yet, upgrade to bottle-less water coolers in the cafeteria and in hallways and install a water filter on the tap in the teachers’ lounge.  Offering chilled filtered tap water will allay concerns about the spreading of germs at the water fountains, taste of tap water, and water quality. 

Custom water bottles

Bottles that are reusable 

Request that students, teachers, parents, and other visitors to the school bring their own reusable bottles or mugs to school each day and to all special events. Consider having a reusable bottle fundraiser or simply issuing school water bottles to every student.  Custom water bottles with the school logo are a big hit with students.  Monies raised can be used to fund water coolers! 

Containers for serving 

Pitchers filled from the faucet or from water coolers can be used to serve tap water to students in their class rooms.  Large portable coolers filled with the help of a pitcher can be used to dispense tap water at large gatherings.  For those who forget their reusable bottles, it is important to have some biodegradable disposable cups on hand and a recycling bin to collect them. 

Pitcher

Portable cooler

Bottle free bliss

All in all, becoming a bottle free school is not as daunting as it sounds.  Life was good BBW!  Putting the ABCs in place is easier and cheaper than you’d expect.  The key to getting cooperation from the entire community will be establishing and communicating a school-wide bottled water policy and letting everyone know you’ve got the ABCs covered.

You’ll be glad you did because eliminating bottled water at your school will simplify planning and clean up for events, reduce the volume of waste, save parents money, model a sustainable lifestyle for students, as well as reap significant environmental benefits for everyone. 

Save money using a reusable bottle

This morning I found a bottled water cost calculator on the New American Dream website. It enables you to calculate how much money you waste buying bottled water in a year. It’s very simple to use. First, you input the number of 16oz bottles of water you drink in a year, then the price of your tap water per gallon, and finally your average bottled water cost.  If you don’t know your tap water cost, it’s safe to assume it’s around $0.002/gallon.

The results are startling!  If you drink one bottle of water per day and pay $1.50 for it each time, you are spending an extra $550 on water!  Even if you buy your bottled water very cheaply most of the time, you will still be wasting over $150 each year. The $10-15 investment in a high quality reusable bottle seems like a bargain by comparison! 

On top of the cost savings you will achieve by using a refillable bottle, there are obvious environmental benefits as well.  The calculator also estimates the impact of your bottled water habit on the planet.  For the one-bottle-a-day person, an extra 114 gallons of water, 37 megajoules of energy, and 9 gallons of oil will be wasted as well as 68 pounds of CO2 generated.

If you’d like to reduce your impact and fatten your wallet, check out Back2Tap for your best value in high quality refillable water bottles.

Leave a smaller Eco-footprint: Less stuff, less waste

Back2Tap’s mission is to encourage people to generate less waste by using Reusable bottles and bags instead of disposables, but if you really want to reduce your eco-footprint, you need to also just buy less “stuff”. There’s a great video that explains the hidden costs of all our “stuff” that is worth watching and sharing with your children: The story of stuff.
The Salwen family has taken this “less stuff” concept to a new level. A New York Times opinion piece this morning tells the story of this Atlanta family who decided to sell their huge house and give half of the proceeds to the needy: $800,000 (it was a really nice house). They have written about their experience in a book due out next month: “The Power of Half“. Their story reminds me of a book I read two years ago called “Serve God, Save the Planet” about Matthew Sleeth, a successful doctor, and his family who decided to downsize so that they could devote their energy to the ministry of protecting the earth.
Contrary to what they expected, both families were much happier and closer after they shed their extravagant lifestyles and made helping others their primary focus. Kevin Salwen, the father says: “This is the most self-interested thing we have ever done. I’m thrilled that we can help others. I’m blown away by how much it has helped us.”
The Salwens found that a smaller house put them in closer proximity to each other and led to closer family bonds. I’m not sure I’m ready to sell our house, but maybe I should view my growing sons and our ever-shrinking kitchen table situation in a more positive light. Maybe we don’t need a larger kitchen – all this closeness may not be such a bad thing!

Litter-less lunches reduce school waste

Recycling is good but re-using is better. That’s the new trend for 2010.

Now more than ever students are starting to realize that they cannot just keep creating more and more garbage – the average student creates 67 pounds of garbage a year by bringing in a disposable lunch – that’s 18,760 pounds of garbage for an average sized elementary school every year!

Even with the best recycling efforts in place, the supply of recycled materials far exceeds the demand.  Almost 80% of disposable plastic bottles end up in landfills. Not to mention the unnecessary waste associated with the production and distribution of disposable plastic bottles – it takes three bottles of water and a half a cup of oil to make and ship just one disposable plastic bottle of water. Also, there is a swirling mass of disposable plastic garbage twice the size of Texas floating in the North Pacific Ocean – further evidence that recycling isn’t working.

But there is a better way. Back2Tap now offers reusable sandwich wraps and snack pouches in addition to reusable stainless steel bottles so schools can encourage completely litter-less lunches. Back2Tap helped one school in NJ with its first “Waste-less Wednesday” and cut lunch room garbage in half!

Reusable sandwich wrap and bottle make a litter-less lunch.

Reusable bottles helped reduce waste at Washington Avenue School.

With over 69 million students in the United States, if just 10% of them made the switch to Reusable bottles and sandwich wraps, almost 1 billion disposable plastic bottles and 2 billion plastic baggies would be kept out of landfills every school year. Together we can all make a difference, one school at a time! 

If you’d like more information about running a Back2Tap Litter-less Lunch campaign, contact customerservice@back2tap.com or call 866-228-3453.

New Years Reusolutions for Green Parents

Trying to sum up Back2Tap’s company mission in a single word, we arrived at the following neologism: REUSOLUTION. It fits because we’re all about re-use, inciting a revolution against waste, offering solutions, and of course, resolving to do better. So, in honor of the New Year, we’d like to share our “reusolutions” for reducing disposable plastic in 2010:

Custom logoed stainless steel bottles

1. Reusable bottles for drinks on the go.

2. Reusable sandwich wraps and snack pouches for litter-less lunches.

3. Reusable grocery bags and produce bags to keep in the trunk of your car.

4. Reusable bags that are compact enough to fit into your purse or pocket for small purchases.

5. Reusable coffee mugs to take with you to the coffee shop or work.

Reusable sandwich wrap

6. Reusable cloths and rags for cleaning up the kitchen and the rest of the house.

7. Reusable cloth napkins with napkin rings for each member of your household.

8. Reusable containers for bringing food home from restaurants and to parties.

Reusable snack pouches

There is a vast array of reusable products that can help make disposable plastic a thing of the past in your home. Please share your REUSOLUTIONS with us by leaving a comment!

Title: Give the gift of tap water this holiday season!

The holidays are quickly approaching. You have a list as long as Santa’s, but you want to buy a gift with meaning for your loved ones. This year, give a gift to the environment as well as to your family and friends. Back 2 Tap’s stainless steel bottles and reusable bags are high-quality solutions to your gift-giving dilemma.

Our bottles are available in three convenient sizes: 12 oz, 18 oz, and 27 oz. The 12 oz is perfect for children or for lunchboxes. The 18 oz will make the perfect everyday drink bottle. For those with a big thirst, the 27 oz sports bottle will satisfy. All bottles are dishwasher safe and compatible with standard cup holders. They are BPA free, do not require a lining and won’t leach into your beverage. Back 2 Tap’s Reusable stainless steel water bottles won’t retain flavors or smells from previous contents. The 1½” opening is easy to drink from and wide enough to add ice. Stainless steel is durable, making this stylish gift one that will last a long time.
Choose between the sports bottle top and the convenient loop top for attaching the bottle to your hiking pack or belt loop. What a perfect gift for the Boy Scout or Girl Scout in your life! This is also a great time to introduce Back 2 Tap’s green fundraising program to your child’s school or scout troop. Bottles can be customized with your group logo plus we now offer reusable sandwich wraps and snack pouches for a complete litter-less lunch program at your school.

But the best thing about our stainless steel bottles is the obvious benefits to the environment. Reusable bottles and bags are better than recycling and easier on your wallet. Save 50¢ per bottle when you order three or more or contact us for bulk pricing.

So have a very green Christmas and a happy holiday season from all of us at Back 2 Tap!

Water quality concerns? Think filters, not bottles!

The Toxic Waters series continues to raise serious questions about water quality in the USA.  Elevating the issue to the forefront of the national news has lent momentum to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson’s stated commitment to improve drinking water quality standards and enforcement.   

I look at it as another call to action to protect our watersheds, lobby for enforcement of our existing clean water regulations, and support upgrades to our water and sewer infrastructure.  It matters what you throw on the ground, in the sewer, and on your lawn.  Whatever you put down could ultimately end up in your drinking water source and add to the cost of your water treatment.  We need to be willing to pay more for our tap water in order to assure that it’s clean.  It’ll still be a bargain at prices 100s of times cheaper than bottled water.  Let’s not give up and rely on bottled water which has already been shown to wasteful - that’s not a sustainable option.   And don’t forget that you don’t know what’s in bottled water either.

The good news is that 87% of the people in the USA have clean drinking water.   Links to find out about your own water quality and water filtration options are provided in the New York Times article, “Is Your Water Safe“.  The small percentage of people whose drinking water doesn’t consistently meet EPA standards should definitely consider home water filtration – it’s the greenest and most economical option.

Back2Tap Honored with Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award

Back2Tap Team honored by Governors Florio and Corzine

The four Back2Tap co-founders travelled down to Princeton to be honored at the Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards last night.  The event took place at the gorgeous old mansion, Drumthwacket, which was all decked out for the holidays.  Hosting the event, Governor Corzine joked that he had spent the entire weekend decorating the house for us.  He got more laughs when he suggested that maybe he should look into this type of work since he’ll be out of a job soon. 

This year marked the 10^th anniversary of the awards program which was established to recognize businesses, individuals, municipalities, and institutions for outstanding environmental performance in the state of New Jersey.  Acting Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, Mark Mauriello, expressed gratitude for all of the good work that is done outside of his state agency and commented that each year the competition for the awards has gotten more competitive.  The DEP received 52 award applications this year – 15 in our category, Sustainable and Healthy Communities. 

Ex-Governor Jim Florio, was also on hand to honor the award recipients.  We were reminded of how far the state has come since the 80s when medical waste frequently washed up on the Jersey shore causing beaches to be closed half the summer.  New Jersey has morphed itself into a national environmental leader as evidenced by its strong commitment to issues such as storm water management and climate change.  Back2Tap is proud to contribute its part to the new green image of the Garden State.

Yum!

Back2Tap poster session display at Award Reception