With its cost at up to $10 a gallon, one would think we would stop buying it. I am not talking about oil; I am referring to bottled water. Whoever came up with the idea of selling it in small plastic bottles, in different flavors, and with vitamin enhancements, is a genius. We are all so gullible. In the United States, bottled water, including sparkling water, is a $5 billion industry. Some brands experienced triple-digit growth last year.
You may have recently heard about the level of pharmaceutical drugs found in drinking water around the United States. It was not good news. Is that a good reason to drink bottled water? Not necessarily. In many cases, the water sold in bottles comes directly from municipal water supplies. According to Food & Water Watch, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires hundreds of tests each month on municipal water supplies, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water, requires only one test a week on it. Only 40 percent of bottled water—that which is sold across state lines—is regulated by the FDA.
For many different reasons, communities around the world are giving up bottled water in favor of water from the tap. Just last week, Stockholm, Sweden-based Scandic announced it would stop selling bottled water in its hotel restaurants and during conferences. Scandic calculates that this move will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 160 metric tons per year. Scandic currently sells about 1.2 million liters (317,000 gallons) of water every year.
The biggest problem with bottled water is waste. Here are some statistics that may be a little difficult to swallow:
• About 60 million water bottles are discarded daily. Only about 12 percent of them are recycled. Most bottles end up in landfills—or on the side of the road.
• Producing those bottles burns 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually—enough fuel to keep 100,000 cars running for a year. According to the Stockholm Consumer Cooperative Society, bottled water generates 1,000 times the carbon dioxide emissions created by the same quantity of tap water.
• Plastic bottles should not be reused; the polyethylene terephthalate they are made of breaks down with multiple uses. You do not want to ingest that.
• Bottled water is 500 to 1,000 times more expensive than tap water.
• The growth in bottled water production has increased water extraction in areas near bottling plants, leading to water shortages that affect nearby consumers and farmers.
If your property is in the United States and you would like to know more about your tap water, the EPA has a list of frequently asked questions about tap water on its web site. Depending on where you live, you can find a water quality report for your area.
If you sell or give bottled water to your guests and staff, do everything you can to make it easy for those bottles to be recycled. Include recycling containers in your guestrooms and throughout your facility. Post signage to remind everyone about the importance of recycling.
GLN Welcomes LaMar Lighting Co., Inc. as Directory Partner
Green Lodging News welcomes LaMar Lighting Co., Inc. as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Occu-Smart, the energy-saving lighting system from LaMar Lighting, combines an internal motion sensor with bi-level electronic ballast to provide an innovative solution for seldom-used spaces, such as stairwells, corridors and storerooms where high light levels are only occasionally necessary.
The sensor detects even the slightest movement and instantly switches from the adjustable standby light level to full light output. Occu-Smart is offered in 10 attractive wall or ceiling mount luminaire styles and both dwell time and sensitivity can be customized by the user. Call (800) 724-7743, e-mail sales@lamarlighting.com, or click here for more information.
Towel & Linen Reuse Study Results
Guests are more likely to reuse their hotel room towels if a customized sign is present, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. In the study, some travelers saw a generic sign that touted the benefits of saving the environment, while others viewed a sign specific to that room. For example, the placard would say something like, “75 percent of people who stayed in this room reused their towels.”
A total of 37.2 percent of guests in the study reused their towels when viewing a standard sign, and nearly 50 percent reused their towels when they saw figures related to their specific guestroom.
As always, I can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
