Refillable Container – Conscious Choices of Water Containers
With the volume of water people are recommended to consume daily to maintain good health*see below note,, Its easy to see why there is such an issue with the amount of waste created from used and discarded drinking containers. Now the best habit we can all get into, is to find a reusable, refillable container that we can take with us throughout our day and refill with good quality, clean drinking water. Weather that container is made of a BPA free plastic, aluminium, stainless steel, copper or glass, the important thing is that you feel it is right for you. It is important that the container can be cleaned and refilled repeatedly, and that will not taint the water you want to consume. Its just a personal choice, and a matter of finding the best fit for you.
*Males need about 10 cups of water every day and Females need about 8 cups *add another cup a day if you are pregnant or breastfeeding*. Babies need 0.7 to 0.8 litres of fluid a day from breast milk or formula, while the water children need, is between 4 cups (for 1-year-olds) and 6 to 8 cups a day (for teenagers). In Australia, 1 cup is equivalent to 250ml)
Now some of you may have noticed that I mentioned BPA free plastic above as a suitable material. Shock horror right!!! Plastic, as a water bottle, are we not trying to get rid of plastic water containers? Well, yes, but it needs to be looked at in context. If the plastic is a low-grade single use, then no, we should not be opting for it as our choice of water container, and yes, a container like that is exactly what we are trying to avoid ending up as waste in our oceans and landfills. But a good quality BPA free plastic water bottle, that can be reused hundreds, if not thousands of times, well that makes a bit more sense. While I personally prefer a stainless-steel water bottle and I can recommend them to anyone wanting to get a reusable bottle, it is heavy and can damage surfaces it is placed on, even in the car. It is bulky and is a bit of a pain to carry (Mine is 1200ml). The same can be said for the aluminium, copper, and glass containers, so again, a personal choice.
When consciously choosing an environmentally sustainable water container, you also need to consider where the refillable container is made, how it is made, the process it takes to produce, and how it is freighted to arrive at your door. All need to be considered to make a good choice. While the market may be limited on what is produced locally, a reputable container manufacture should have details about their production process and sustainability on their website. For example, a reusable aluminium water bottle may be your choice, but if that bottle is produced overseas using less sustainable smelting processes and is then freighted here on a container ship burning tens of hundreds of tons of heavy fuel oil per day just to arrive at your door, well then, the cost has outweighed the benefits. The amount of emissions produced to make and freight that 1 refillable container, will never be offset!!! On the other had that same type of water bottle, made from aluminium, stainless steel, copper, glass or even BPA free plastic, if produced locally or more sustainably, is going to make a real difference, and go a long way to helping the environment.
Single use containers
The next point to think of, is if you are out and just need a drink of water, or for one reason or another you need to purchase water from a store or supermarket. Which one to choose? Well, I will try and put some very plain and simple points to you now. Most of the pre-packaged water is of poor quality and rarely actual spring water. Most of the time it is filtered tap water, using some form of reverse osmosis (RO) filtration, that strips all minerals and trace elements out of the water (Look that one up, you will never drink RO water again), carbon filtration or some form of distilling. The main point here is that you are paying for tap water, or a poor-quality drinking water to be packaged in some form of low-quality plastic, cardboard or aluminium packaging, when you could simply just go out to the nearest water bubbler or tap and get the same water for free, save your money, and the environment. Once again, on the other hand there are some great natural waters out their (Mt Beerwah Natural Spring Water is the best in our opinion 😉, although we mainly supply our water in bulk, and not in single use containers) So check upon what pre-packaged water is available and again look for a local natural water, in a BPA free plastic bottle, glass bottle, or aluminium can that is fully recyclable. But the most important takeaway is not to get tricked into buying tap water packaged up as a better alternative to tap water!!!. Be aware of the marketing strategies and just ask yourself some basic questions when buying water, – What type of water is this? Where and how is the container produced? Am I being tricked by a nice label and good marketing? Finally, and most importantly, am I damaging the environment by purchasing this water?
Thanks for reading, and I hope I have helped some of you put some thought into your water purchase and given you some motivation to go back to the most simple, basic, and environmentally friendly way of consuming your water in a refillable container. Just Refill & Reuse!!!