Reducing plastic is a good idea
Nestle corporation, headquartered in Switzerland, was created in 1866, long before advertise-to-create-need became vogue.
Advertise-to-create-need is the process used to brainwash consumers into believing they need a product. It is the presentation of unsubstantiated scientific information such as: "your body needs eight glasses of water per day." Or the profession supported statements such as: "doctor recommended." Or the paid-for stamp of approval, to name but one: "The American Heart Association."
Jane Lazgin, director of corporate communications for Nestle Waters, a division of the Nestle Corporation, stated in a recent Fence Post that "children and adults have a dizzying array of packaged, sugary beverage choices," so bottled water, because it is an easily accessible, zero-calorie alternative, should not be criticized when packaged in plastic bottles. She stated "… 70 percent of what people drink comes from a can or bottle…"
Yes, water is a zero-calorie drink. But do we need it contaminated by putting it into plastic bottles and then have it contaminate our environment with the throw-away container? Not really. Using a reusable container filled with water from most any faucet, notably in our homes, we can continue healthfully and economically consuming water.
The packaged, sugary beverage choices are agreeably unhealthy fluid choices, and Nestle has non-zero calorie water products to offer.
Interestingly, Ms. Lazgin notes water bottles make up less than 1 percent of waste in landfills. Since all plastic makes up more than 10 percent of waste in landfills, but the other garbage is biodegradable, her statistic is alarming because that's just landfills.
Since 1950, small continents of floating toxic plastic garbage, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, have been growing. The eastern patch is bigger than the state of Texas, and is growing in the pacific between California and Hawaii, while the western patch is east of Japan and west of Hawaii. The important fact here is that plastic never goes away!
The Nestle's bottled water division is international. However, the gross product sales in foreign countries pales in comparison to USA sales. No doubt, that is reason enough to involve their high powered director of communications in writing to Opinion pages of local newspapers. Delivery of products in plastic reduces the cost of transportation, which is why it is the packaging of choice for most processed foods.
What better way to reduce the use of gasoline but to reuse a water bottle and fill it with water that comes from a faucet? It's a win-win situation for decreasing health-care costs because water is a healthful fluid to ingest.
It is an environmentally responsible action because it reduces pollution of our landfills. It is also healthy for the economy because taking Nestle out of the loop in our drinking of free water, they can concentrate on making healthier chocolate, which is really where we want them to concentrate their efforts anyway.
Gail Talbot
Huntley