It is agreat to see E, a environmental magazine, covering bottled water in such a fair way.
They did a nice story on the lightweighting of the bottled water industry. Thanks to Kristin Bender for her reporting.
In the bottled water industry, they call the new bottles “water balloons.” A recent analysis of plastic bottles by the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) for the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) shows that between 2000 and 2008, the gram weight of the 16.9-ounce single-serve bottled water container dropped by nearly one third.
“Most people can tell the difference,’’ says Tom Lauria, IBWA spokesperson. “They squeeze easily, but they are droppable, shippable and strong.”
In 2000, the average polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottled water container weighed 18.9 grams. By 2008, that number had dropped to 12.7 grams, according to IBWA. The BMC estimated that during those eight years more than 1.3 billion pounds of PET resin was eliminated.
IBWA President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph K. Doss says his association gives credit to the plastic resin manufacturers who worked hard to find new ways to strengthen PET plastic resin so that less plastic goes further in maintaining the structural integrity of the thinner bottle. “Less can be used with equal results,’’ says Lauria.