Nestle Eco-Shape Bottle - Eco-Friendly Alternative Or Sham?
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I encountered an oxymoron at the grocery store recently as I was walking down the drink aisle. I noticed a label that claimed that a certain brand of plastic bottled water was an eco-friendly alternative. This leading bottled water manufacturer (Nestle) boasts that it is an eco-friendly alternative because of it’s environmentally friendly bottle shape uses at least 15% less plastic. But, the question that needs to be asked is, when you use thinner plastic does it not leech more toxins? Well, the answer is, yes it does and this is something the company chooses to omit.
Also, on their website it states that they are coming up with a newer version of the eco-friendly alternative bottle that will use 30% less plastic. Personally it seems like nothing more than greenwashing. Marketing something as being an eco-friendly alternative when really all it does is exploit the green ideology and misinforms the public. Not that this is an uncommon practice. Many companies do this. They use buzzwords like Eco, green, environmentally or earth friendly and in reality it does nothing better. The naive consumer believes that they are doing something good by making a simple change by switching brands, but truth be told they are buying into a baseless myth. It should also be noted that the price of bottled water has come down substantially and with a new eco-friendly alternative bottle, it seems too good to be true.
So basically it boils down to the fact that this brand uses less plastic in the new design and made the plastic they do use thinner so it is easier to recycle these bottles. The company does boast that they have an environmental plan. while I am all for corporate social responsibility this new design seems like nothing more than a gimmick that may be a little more eco-friendly than the average plastic water bottle.
In the end the best eco-friendly alternative is a sustainable bottle, which you fill with water you filtered yourself. Bottled water gives us no information about the quality of the water in the bottle; but, I guess that is subject for another day. Stainless steel bottles with filtered tap water remains the best eco-friendly alternative out there.
3 Comments
September 21st, 2009 at 12:45 am
Typical. The bottle is not eco friendly, it is slightly more eco friendly than others. Plastic bottles have been implicated in diabetes. I also filter my own water at home and any I take with me whenever possible.
September 21st, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I agree, the bottle is not eco friendly, it’s just slightly more eco friendly than others with a little less plastic. But ultimately it’s still plastic bottled water and to call that eco-friendly is an oxymoron. The health hazards associated with BPA continue to threaten consumers. Kudos to you Courtney for filling up your water at home, hopefully in the long term, that becomes the norm for everyone.
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Surely 15% less plastic is still 85% too much?
It’s tantamount to saying a tiny plastic bottle that only holds 100ml of water is earth friendly. Still a sham I think….
Tim