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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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
Reusable metal water bottles are popping up for sale all over the place these days. At the Go Green Festival in New York City last April, I spotted a stainless steel bottle for $27. At local grocery stores I’ve seen metal bottles for just $10. Custom logoed bottles can cost anywhere between $3.00 and $13.00. So what’s the difference? It turns out, plenty.
I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying: you get what you pay for. There are some serious quality issues with the cheap metal bottles – we know because we tested lots of them in the process of choosing a bottle for Back2Tap. We encountered leaking caps, paint that literally peeled off after a few weeks, logos that were printed poorly and faded quickly, thin walls that dented very easily, and poor polishing/finishing on the bottle.
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- Paint peeling off a cheap bottle.
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- Comparison of damage caused by dropping onto pavement when full.
Then there’s the question of what the bottles are made of – a cheap bottle may not be made of food grade materials. If you choose stainless steel rather than aluminum, you won’t have to worry about a cheap liner that may allow unwanted constituents to leach into your beverage. Back2Tap bottles are 0.5mm thick, printed with safe and resilient paints in the USA, and are tested to ensure that they comply with FDA and ASTM standards.
An acquaintance of mine sheepishly admitted to me recently that she had supplied her whole swim team with cheap stainless steel bottles last winter, and now regrets it. The bottles are so junky no one wants to use them anymore! At the Watchung Hills Green Day event in October, a customer who bought a blank bottle at our exhibit table admitted that she had just purchased a cheaper bottle at another table. She bought it solely to support the soccer team even though she knew she would never actually use such a poor quality product.
These two stories highlight the main reason Back2Tap doesn’t offer cheap bottles – and we have considered doing so, believe me! Plenty of suppliers have contacted us hawking their wares. Low quality bottles just don’t perform well and don’t last so they are not durable and useful, key requirements for sustainable products. Back2Tap doesn’t want to be fostering a throw away mentality by selling cheap bottles because that is exactly what we are trying to combat. We hope that schools selling Back2Tap bottles for a fundraiser do so with the understanding that they are promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship as well as raising funds.
In sum, there are numerous significant differences between cheap, low quality bottles and better more expensive bottles. If you buy an inferior bottle that doesn’t last or doesn’t get used, your effort to be “greener” or live more sustainably will have failed – so don’t even bother! A good reusable bottle can save you hundreds of dollars over its lifetime so it is worth investing in a high quality bottle that you will enjoy using every day.
Last June, math teacher and director of sustainability Kevin Merges arranged for the seniors at Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset, New Jersey to get a surprise under their chairs at
Sustainable Future bottles.
their graduation ceremony. Seniors quenched their thirst from reusable bottles filled with tap water instead of bottled water during the ceremony. Merges noticed in prior years that dozens of water bottles were only partially empty. Mary Ganzenmuller, Vice President of the Board of Trustee worked with Merges to find this sustainable solution for the event. Provided by Back2Tap, the stainless steel bottles were customized with the school logo and the words: Rutgers Preparatory School – A Sustainable Future. According to Merges, the students were thrilled with their reusable bottles and plan to carry them proudly as they go forth toward their sustainable futures.
Seniors with their reusable bottles.Sustainable Future bottles.
It always feels good when a Back2Tap campaign at a school goes right. I was so psyched to hear that the reusable bottles and bottle-less water coolers were well received by the K-12 students at Lincoln – Hubbard School in Summit, NJ. So well, in fact, the students are lining up in the hallway to fill up their custom reusable bottles from Back2Tap. The kids say that they love the tap water because it is so cold and refreshing.
students refilling their reusable water bottles
Bottle-less coolers are tied directly into the water line and provide cold, filtered tap water without the waste, expense and exposure to plastics found with traditional water coolers with the 5 gallon jugs that have to be delivered. Although Back2Tap does not sell bottle-less water coolers, we can recommend a manufacturer. Lincoln – Hubbard was able to use the profits from their stainless steel bottle fundraiser toward the purchase of the coolers. Best of all, this is one green initiative that will save the school money and the parents money while benefitting students health and ability to learn.
What do reusable bottles have to do with the flu? These days, everything seems to be peripherally related to flu, but aside from that, a Baxter Bulletin article yesterday reports that one principal is attributing low absenteeism rates with the use of reusable bottles.
Principal Randi Connior of Yellville-Summit Elementary in Arkansas noted that only 4% of her students were absent on Tuesday. Many districts are reporting absentee rates of 14-20% and higher. Every student at her elementary school has a reusable water bottle so students don’t have to use the water fountains in the hallways. “If you’ve ever watched kids drink from a school fountain,” she said, “you’ll usually see them sucking on it.” Students have been issued a reusable water bottle every year since principal Connior noticed a drop in absenteeism during a boil-water advisory when the water fountains were not being used.
When I searched “school water fountain hygiene” on-line, I found out that there are plenty of schools who have zeroed in on water fountains as a likely culprit for spreading contagious disease. In Charlestown, West Virginia, some Kanawha elementary principals have called school health officials about banning water fountain use as a way to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus according to a Charleston Gazette article.
In their guide to avoiding infections when returing to schools this fall, the National Jewish Health website explicitly warns: “Water fountains can be the enemy. Take a reusable water bottle to school, instead of using the school water fountain, which may become contaminated with germs, especially during cold and flu season.”
I’m heartened to find that the solution of choice is reusable bottles, a very eco-friendly response, rather bottled water with all its associated wastefulness. Custom reusable bottles are readily available for bulk purchase with a quick turnaround time from Back2Tap for any school or parent group who would like to take this step toward keeping children healthy as this perilous flu season gets underway.
- A soccer player with one of our bottles
Did you know that Americans each drank an average of 218 bottles of water in 2007? bottles – 66 billion, in fact! Only 23% of them are recycled so on a daily basis, a staggering 140 million disposable plastic bottles go to landfills in the USA. That’s enough, laid end to end, to reach from New Jersey to China and back every day.
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- A soccer player with one of our bottles
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- bottled water bottles laid end to end from Xhina to the US
It doesn’t take an engineering degree to understand that this is a problem. It is extremely wasteful. To begin with, finite natural resources like water and oil are being consumed in the manufacturing of bottled water. It takes 4 ounces of oil and 51 ounces of water to make one 17 ounce bottle of water! Then after their use, 50 billion disposable plastic water bottles are dumped in landfills each year where they will take over 700 years to decompose.
There is a simple solution to this problem. Drink tap water instead of bottled water and use a reusable bottle when you are on-the-go. Even if you filter and flavor your tap water, you will save money because bottled water is 1000 times more expensive than tap water. There are many reusable bottles on the market today. For a high performance, high quality water bottle, try a stainless steel bottle from Back2Tap.
EarthSense 