As I always say, I am a self-professed sucker for great marketing. If a commercial or marketing campaign is targeted at me or does a great job communicating or pitching a product to me, I feel obligated to respond and give that company my business. Sure it might sound like I am being a sheep and am totally gullible for commercials, but really it is a conscious decision to reward the hard work of the marketing team behind that commercial. Since my brain thinks along those lines anyways, I really like it when someone does a great job.The Refill Not Landfill ad / action campaign is no exception. You may have seen the commercials (can't find one online, but will add later if I do). Simple, but powerful, showing a brief activity where someone is drinking bottled water, and then the background fades out to show just the bottle, with the bottom line being the fact that the bottle will stay in a landfill long after the basketball game is over. It is a whole new perspective on drinking responsibly. This isn't about cutting yourself off after a few beers so you can drive home safely, it is about taking into account the impact of our desire for convenience and avoidance of perfectly good, potable tap water.
First of all, I think we are spoiled. When individual sized bottled water first came on the market, people mocked it because they couldn't imagine someone actually paying for water when we have plenty of water available pretty much everywhere. I mean come on... compared to a lot of countries in the world, our tap water is incredible. It is clean, drinkable, and it even has minerals and nutrients that are good for us. Are we really that spoiled that we don't like the taste of it? It is water, people. Now, remember back to when I would visit my grandmother's house and also when I worked at a summer camp in rural PA, both of which got their water from a well, I can see how the taste of that water would take some getting used to. But ultimately, that is exactly what I did, I got used to it. It is water... I mean, what do you want? Something completely devoid of taste? Is that really refreshing? We should stop being such high maintenance elitists and drink the water that we have.
And speaking of which, if we increase our reliance on Aquafina (aka Pepsi) and Dasani (aka Coke) for our water, our amazing water filtration and refining system that provides clean water to your kitchen will fall into disrepair and neglect. Then when bottled water prices skyrocket, we will be left without recourse (like our dependence on oil).
And I know that there are some steps being taken to change the impact of these plastic bottles on the environment and our landfills. Poland Spring, for instance, is marketing their eco-friendly bottles that require less plastic. Clearly they aren't going to encourage you to drink water from a re-usable bottle instead of theirs, but they are trying.
Now that I work at a company deeply involved in the green, renewable energy industry, ever since I got here I have been trying to find ways that we can be more responsible in our own facility to mimic our actions out in the world. These ads really hit home for me and seemed to be a simple way to make a difference. In spite of the availability of soda at work, it really is great to see that most people choose a bottled water over a Coke. But that means hundreds of bottles a week are going into the trash, or hopefully recycling. And yes, we do recycle, and yes, that is great. But it still requires tons of energy to produce these bottles and then to recycle them. Is it really that hard to bring a Nalgene to work instead?
So, starting today, I am drinking from my Nalgene. Every bottle-full of water means two fewer plastic water bottles that go in the trash or recycling. I know I can't make a huge difference by myself, but I decided it is time I do what I can.
Additional Links:
For more info on the Refill Not Landfill campaign, visit their website: http://www.refillnotlandfill.org/
Check out this interesting article (from Fox News of all places) about the impact of America's obsession with bottled water: Green Alternatives to Bottled Water
As seen at Nationals Park and Windpower 2008, plastic cups made out of 100% biodegradable corn are now available and in use.
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