The “Eco-Shape” Bottle? Nice Try, Nestle!
Posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 5:13 pmAnd this week’s Greenwashing Award goes to… Deer Park! By a landslide.
Touting their “long-standing commitment to the environment,” Deer Park has begun marketing their new “Eco-Shape Bottle.” According to the Deer Park website, the new bottles:
*are 100% recycleable (as if the old ones weren’t?)
*are made with 30% less plastic
*feature a label that’s 30% smaller
*are flexible so they’re easy to crush for recycling (surely they jest!)
* and, my personal favorite: they’re easy to carry
While I certainly won’t dispute that a bottle that’s made with 30% less plastic is a step in the right direction, it would take another 70% reduction before this bottle could realistically be considered “eco.”
You may have noticed that Poland Spring and other well-known bottled water companies are also promoting an eco-shape bottle (seriously, eco-shape?!). Well, the explanation is quite simple. Poland Spring, Deer Park, and thirteen other bottled water brands, including Arrow Head, Ozarka, Perrier, and San Pellegrino, are all owned by the Nestle Corporation. This strategic greenwashing of their bottles seems pretty win-win for Nestle: the new bottles are smaller and therefore cheaper to transport, have received extremely positive consumer feedback, and will likely generate additional revenue on the basis of being “green.” But don’t be fooled! Bottled water is bottled water, whatever the shape. (For more information on why you should break the bottled water habit, check out other C3 blog posts on the topic). For a truly environmental bottled water alternative, try using a water filter and a reusable bottle, like Sigg or Klean Kanteen.
Nestle’s promotion of environmentally-friendly bottled water (yes, truly an oxymoron) is clearly a well-constructed marketing effort in response to the negative press that green organizations have generated about their product. The decision to launch this product speaks volumes of the progress that the anti-bottled water campaigns has made! Let’s stick with it… and keep spreading the word!
And it’s not even accurate. There’s nothing “Eco” about the shape — anybody who has learned high school geometry can see that you can use the same amount of plsatic to fit more water. Therefore, you can fit the same amount of water in less plastic.
(Hint: replace the inward bulge with an outward bulge — same amount of plastic, more water. Not as easy to carry, but aren’t they touting the “Eco”-friendliness of the shape? Maybe they’re counting on the fact that most Americans don’t know geometry.)
The 30% reduction comes entirely from using a lighter plastic, less material. Has nothing at all to do with the shape. Of course, there will be practically no reduction in landfill space. The light plastic will have practically no impact on the volume that an automated crusher will shrink it down to.
I’ve always wondered why they don’t sell water in aluminum cans, actually. Much more recyclable.
posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm