Aquafina Uses 50% Less Plastic In Bottles. That's Still 50% More Than Tap It.

Photocredit: Rob Starling

Aquafina is touting its new, uber-thin plastic bottle, which reduces the Pepsico water company's plastic use by 50%.  This positive step comes after a shady history for the company who back in 2007 was forced to write on the bottle that their water source was public.   In other words, they had to clarify that  Aquafina has always been bottled tap water. 

There is a growing trend for less plastic use in the bottled water industry.   Nestle owned Poland Springs reduced its use of plastic resin in a one-half liter from 14 1/2 grams to 12 1/2 grams.  As reported by National Public Radio, CEO Kim Jeffrey said, "That move down saved us about 65 million pounds of resin a year and had about a 10 percent reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions."  

Also in last week's NPR's bottled water segment was information on consumer spending for bottled water. This year, after years of double digit increases in bottled water (last year, Americans spent $11 billion dollars on water)  bottled water sales have finally stopped rising.

With consumers realizing that commodities like tap water should be FREE and networks like TapIt to help them find the free tap water, bottled water companies can only expect a further drop in sales.