Bottled water - an industry perspective

15 May, 2008

By T. Gentile

The Australian bottled water industry has been under frequent attack in the media. The negative comments have related to depleting aquifers, contributing to litter and waste and worsening children’s dental health. On face value, many of these accusations appear to have some basis. After all, is not Australian spring water sourced from aquifers? Tap water is safe, so why should people buy it? Is not bottled water packaged in PET plastic bottles? Is it not a fact that bottled water does not contain fluoride and that more children are drinking it?

What are the facts?

How much ground water does the bottled water industry use?

People are surprised when told that the entire bottled water industry in Australia uses less than 0.01% of the total amount of groundwater withdrawn from Australia aquifers. This is equal to about half a day’s supply for Melbourne, and less than half a day’s use in Sydney. The vast bulk of aquifer sourced water is in fact used in agriculture.

So where does the water come from?

Australian bottled water companies source water from underground springs all over Australia. It is often however, overlooked that the Australasian Bottled Water Institute (ABWI) which represents over 90% of bottled water volume bottlers, requires that a hydro-geological survey for ground water sources be undertaken to assess the sustainability of the aquifers that they take the water from.

Sustainability and environment

The total amount of water consumed as drinking water by a household is a fraction of the total amount used. The bulk goes into gardens, baths, showers and water closets. Many people therefore choose to buy their drinking water. This is done for a variety of reasons including the avoidance of chlorination either based on taste preference or sensitivity, the avoidance of fluoride again for either concern about its safety or sensitivity and finally and most importantly because they like the taste and portability.

Tap water is collected in dams, aluminium needs to be added to clarify it and chlorine to make it safe. It is then delivered over long distances in pipes to homes.

What about the environment? What about all those bottles going to landfill?

Forty per cent of all bottled water is consumed from large bottles (9 or 15 L) used with water coolers. These bottles are not only refillable (over thirty times) but at the end of their economic life, recycled. The remaining 60% is sold in retail packs, almost all in PET bottles. Here the industry has a good story to tell. Thirty seven per cent of all PET beverage bottles are recycled and PET beverage bottles, which include in addition to water, fruit juices, soft drinks, household condiments and cleansers, are a tiny fraction of material going into landfill, in fact less than 0.3% in Australia. Australian bottlers were the first in the world to package beverages using recycled PET.

Further, in the last four years alone, Australian bottlers have saved more than 60 000 tonnes of PET by "light weighting” PET bottles, which means less plastic. Australians are great recyclers. We voluntarily recycle around 70% of the beverage containers used at home with 90% of Australian homes having access to kerbside recycling operations, and we have a world’s best participation rate of over 80%.