Plastic Bottles: Free Water Refill Points Rolled Out To Cut Waste

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42808302

There is something I don't really understand about this. If we assume that all these millions of people that buy these plastic bottles every day, start out from home every morning, why don't they fill an empty bottle and take it with them ?

I appreciate that in some areas, tap water might not be as nice as we have here in Wales....London for instance, but now that the pollution that is caused by trillions of plastic bottles being discarded, its time for a change ?

[aelmpvw]

aog, reminds of the 'only fools and horses' episode where del boy was reselling his tap water in bottles ...

[emmie]

the water is ok here as far as i am aware, but its a good idea to have these filling stations to refill your water bottle, some just like the idea of mineral water, don;t know why though - tap water is well protected from germs.

[anotheoldgit]

It's a wonder the British Armed services didn't go down like flies, our 'canteens' were made out of metal and covered in material and apart from the occasional washout, that's all they got, what congregated in the bottom was anyone's guess, but what the eyes can't see...., they say.

[bhg481]

A friend of mine used to work at a research establishment and one day they decided to test the local tap water against Perrier. The Perrier came out about 10 million times more radioactive than the tap water. As he put it, 10 million times ***all is still ***all but the results were interesting.

[New Judge]

“Like you said...not all tap water is nice to drink.”

No water – tap or otherwise – is particularly nice to drink. It has no taste (other than that of the various pollutants that are in it) and its only purpose is to slake one’s thirst.

“As I see it, buying small amounts of water is entirely a modern problem, caused by people having more money than sense.”

Mikey is completely correct. Nobody prior to about 1980 was seen guzzling water in the street. With the exception of a very few people whose lifestyles and/or work prevents it or who have a medical condition that requires it, nobody needs to be continually sipping from a plastic bottle every few minutes. Just how long are most people away from a water source that they have to cart bottles of the stuff round with them?

“The only way to obtain clean drinking water is to buy cardboard cartons or glass bottles,…”

And where do you think the “clean drinking water” comes from, NM? Further than that, as soon as the bottle is opened it it comes into contact with air (and everything in it) and some of what’s in it proliferates quite rapidly as the water warms.

The bottled water industry is a triumph of modern marketing - suggesting to people that they must buy something that they don't need and that is scarcely any different from the same stuff they can get from their tap. Good luck to those companies and good luck to the people who fall for their charm.

[mikey4444]

TTT....I can see no reason why people should refill their existing plastic bottles from the home tap, with the exception of some areas of the UK where the tap tastes nasty. Luckily, here in Wales we have lovely soft water.

AOG and NJ....quite correct !.....the concept of buying water was completely unknown until a few years ago.....as I said in my earlier post, this current craze is entirely caused by having more money than sense.