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Given the myriad of challenges facing the refreshment services industry today, the last thing vending and OCS operators need is to be associated with products that negatively impact the environment or are of questionable safety.

Not only is this occurring, but it has afflicted one of the few products showing strong growth in recent years: bottled water. Opposition to bottled water is based on concerns about the environmental impact of packaging, depletion of water resources, and actual water quality.

IS PLASTIC THE ENEMY?

For years, soda and other beverages have been bottled in plastic, but once water in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles came on the scene, the war began between environmentalists and plastics. Interestingly enough, the concern about plastic packaging does not extend to soda, energy drinks or other products.

The Sierra Club, a grassroots environmental organization, offers a pamphlet citing selective facts about bottled water, such as that nine out of 10 bottles of water end up as garbage or litter.

This lack of recycling is parroted in the Seattle Times, which reported Mayor Greg Nickels saying only one in 10 bottles is recycled. He complained bottled water is a waste of money and resources when compared to using city water. Chicago Alderman George Cardenas proposed a tax on bottled water due to the nearly $40 million shortfall in the city’s water and sewer funds because people weren’t using public water. He feels the tax will help dissuade people from buying bottled water.