Friday, October 3, 2008

A Big Thirst




October 3, 2008

I have declared war on big plastic bottles.

There has already been uproar in the media about the ubiquitous plastic water bottle and its effect on the environment and oil consumption. But today I am exercised about its large cousins.

Have you ever wandered down the "juice" aisle in the supermarket? There must be thousands of plastic bottles, from the 12-oz "exercise beverage" bottles that come in eight-packs, to the 128 ounce behemoths that anchor the bottom shelf of the display.

All of them are filled with some kind of juice-like substance, in all of the colors of the rainbow, ranging from the deep indigo of grape juice to the pink, chartreuse and electric blue - a color not even found in nature - of the aforementioned electrolyte-restoring fluid.

I will save serious critique of the contents for another day. Right now, I am talking about the containers, and how much space they take up in the recycling bucket once they have been emptied. You get two or three of those biggies in the can, and not much else fits in there. Some of the bottles are almost as big as the bucket I am trying to fit them in.

Of course, what happens to them after they are recycled is another whole issue.

You have to wonder how much petroleum product is tied up in these oversized containers. Some companies are starting to produce greener alternatives to conventional plastics, which break down more easily, and produce fewer toxins, but they are not yet in widespread use.

Why does anyone need so much "juice" that it has to come in a container the size of an oil drum? I can understand if someone is buying provisions for a summer camp, or school lunch, but for the average consumer, they are kind of ridiculous - they don't fit in the refrigerator when full, and they take up a lot of space when empty.

How thirsty are we, anyway? Are we afraid that we will run out of "juice" and, desiccated arms outstretched toward the kitchen, die a parched death in our living rooms while we watch Survivor?

I think it is a holdover from the whole oversize trend that was happening. Bigger just had to be better - cars, houses, beverages. If a lot was good, more had to be even better. Especially if the beverages in question are mostly water, with some high fructose corn syrup and food coloring added.

When I was a kid - and beware any sentence written by a fiftysomething that starts with those words - we drank a lot of powdered ice tea mix. There were no big plastic jugs. There were waxed cardboard cartons for orange juice, and milk came in glass bottles that were reused.

So, to minimize the purchase of the plastic, I have gone back to the powdered drink mixes, or I make ice tea from actual teabags. I re-use the plastic jugs, or when possible use a pitcher.

Of course, the healthiest thing to do is just skip the additives and drink water.

From the tap.

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