Mining Wise International

Bear a plastic water bottle to your own hazard; the sway of social view is forming away from you. From top rating documentaries, to books and politics, the hottest debate in town is the problem around bottled water and the waste that the industry forces.

The production, transportation and disposal of water in petrochemical plastic bottles demands large quantities of water alongside energy, and pumps out ridiculous measures of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the recent documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig says “1500 water bottles end up in landfill every second – that’s 30 million water bottles a day! We wanted to show people just how much waste is generated by bottled water.” The Tapped crew are promoting the documentary with an across-America roadshow, collecting donations from donors to lower their water bottle use and swapping their old plastic water bottle for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.

A short film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. Created by Annie Leonard of the well-received ‘The Story of Stuff’, this short film explores the method that amounts to conning Americans into consuming over half a billion bottles of water each and every week, compared with a few cents cost for tapwater. Check out the short film on You Tube.

Through her book ‘Bottlemania’, writer Elizabeth Royte chronicles one of the most massive marketing heists of this century and demands a super environmental alarm. She explores the red flags we must inevitably understand. Who distributes our water distribution? What can happen when a bottled-water factory seizes your town’s drinking water? Is the water coming from a tap entirely safe? What really is the environmental footprint of producing, transporting and disposing of every plastic water bottle?

Politicians from all around the globe are acknowledging that they are required to do something – markedly when the places where they collate are major consumers of bottled water. How often do we witness a politician in a meeting sipping from a water bottle. Why can’t they might use a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, stated “Cities and states are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on bottled water, and that’s not to mention what’s spent to deal with all the plastic bottles that are thrown out.”

In July 2009, the NSW rural town of Bundanoon became the first community around Australia to stop the sale of bottled water. Some 60 cities in the United States and a handful of places in Canada and the United Kingdom have stopped the spending of taxpayer funds on bottled water.

No doubt this issue will be on the agenda come World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the environment’s most time-sensitive water-related dilemmas.

Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.

You are doing the right thing for the planet by filling up at home and carrying a reusable water bottle and you’ve chosen a safe, non-toxic bottle-but if it’s not kept clean then it may not be healthy.

Whether your drink bottle is a stainless steel bottle, SIGG bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming in the bottle.

Wash your drink bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off every day where possible.

Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean water bottle with Distilled White Vinegar and let it soak for 24 hours. Then rinse with warm water mixed with one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), rinse out and let dry. Spots inside the bottle that look like “corrosion” are most likely a mineral deposit.

Fill your bottle with filtered water wherever possible. It tastes so much better, but also because water contains different minerals in every area this may affect what happens inside your bottle.

Do not allow liquids such as fruit juice to ferment inside the bottle.

With all reusable water bottles you can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and a specially-designed SIGG bottle cleaning brush, or simply a baby bottle brush. Only ever use a soft brush on aluminium bottles with lining like SIGG so as not to damage the lining. Stainless steel water bottles like Klean Kanteen and Nathan can handle a hard brush.

While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, it is recommended to not put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher powders are caustic, so they will eat into the metal of your bottle and damage the exterior pattern. Bottle tops should also not be put in the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.

Never freeze metal bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside. Water does not always expand in a predictable direction! Freezing plastic water bottles is also not advisable because it may cause the plastic to breakdown and toxins to leach. It is fine to place your bottle in the refrigerator.

Tips on cleaning your water bottle brought to you by Biome Eco Stores Australia.