Filtered water taps for the office have already been proven to be an outstanding option for improving office productivity and safety. Yet there is another big tick that Boiling, Chilled and Sparkling Filtered water taps also get, a green tick.
“Bottled water has to be pumped out of the ground, packaged, transported and chilled before it gets to us. This creates over 60,000 tons of greenhouses gases a year in Australia alone[1]”.
AquaClear will be the first to admit that all its water filter systems require electricity, and that has an environmental impact. However, these systems are an environmentally friendly way to efficiently deliver clear and great tasting water at the right temperature, so people actually want to use them daily. Consider the environmental impacts of the bottled alternatives:
[1]http://oceancrusaders.org/plastic-crusades/plastic-statistics. 15/9/18
PLASTIC POLLUTION
The main concerns of Australians with relation to the bottled water industry involve the “contribution of plastic PET bottes to landfill and the carbon emissions generated by the production and distribution of bottled water[1].”
Globally one million plastic bottles are bought every minute. Most of these will end up in landfill, where they take years to break down, or in our rivers and oceans, killing marine life.
In Australia, less than 40% of plastic bottles are recycled. A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found the equivalent of a garbage truck worth of plastic bottles was being dumped into the ocean every minute.“(Without change), the ocean is expected to contain one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight).”
[1] Ibisworld.com.au Bottled Water Manufacturing in Australia Report, May 2018.
http://oceancrusaders.org/plastic-crusades/plastic-statistics. 15/9/18
[1] Ibisworld.com.au Bottled Water Manufacturing in Australia Report, May 2018.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL COST OF TRANSPORTING BOTTLED WATER
Our consumption of imported water is an Australian national disgrace. Given the quality and relative abundance of natural water supplies in Australia, it makes absolutely no ethical environmental sense that we should import millions of glass or plastic bottles of water from Europe or China. Yet we do. Can you imagine the amount of energy that is wasted pumping the water from a hole overseas, carting it to a bottling plant, creating bottles somewhere in Europe or Asia, transporting the bottles to the bottling plant, running a bottling plant, boxing them, and then shipping them literally half way around the world?
Australian Bottled water manufacturing is a $764m dollar industry with only $10m of that total exported. Relatively speaking, other countries don’t bother importing our bottled water, why do we bother importing bottled water?
WATER SAVING
Sadly, it takes 3-7 litres of water to make one litre of bottled water. In addition, we often end up throwing out un-used portions of bottles. Just because only a 600ml bottle is available, does not mean that suits your thirst. With a Zip Hydro tap or similar at your office, if you only want a half a glass, that’s fine. You can always go back for more water at that perfect temperature
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/feb/10/water.foodanddrink
ENERGY SAVING
Can you imagine the amount of energy that is wasted keeping bottles of fresh water cool in fridges in cafes, retail stores and vending machines around the world? If all office building floors had a chilled, boiling and sparkling filtered drinking water system, there would be dramatically less energy wasted on refrigeration in fridges – due to long-term demand reduction.
It also takes one litre of oil to produce one litre of bottled water[1]. What a shameful waste of the planet’s finite resources.
[1] https://thewaterproject.org/bottled-water/bottled_water_wasteful, http://www.belmont.edu/green/bottled_water.html
WASTED INFRASTRUCTURE
The mains water supply of Australian cities and towns are the envy of almost every country on the planet. Most Australians take it for granted, but if you have the chance to talk to those that have arrived from overseas, ask them. Australians have it good, and we take it for granted. Through our water rates and the fortune that Australians pay for every building in this nation to be built, we have an amazing network of dams, pumps and pipes. All we have to do is put a small system in an office kitchenette, and any workplace can have great tasting filtered chilled, boiling and sparkling water on tap.
Yet despite the massive investment that we have all made in our buildings and national infrastructure, we have allowed the drink company marketers to convince us that we somehow need to import some swanky glass bottle from Italy, or give Coca-Cola Amatil $3.50 for a bottle of Mt Franklin. We’ve been sucked in, and we know it, but we don’t like to think about it.
To discuss alternatives such as Billi chilled and boiling under-bench systems, or a Zip Hydro tap for your workplace, call those that offer the best brands and the best service. AquaClear 1300 070 007.
