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11.14.12

Canned Water?!

I often thought an 'ace up the sleeve' for the bottled water industry was that their usually unneeded product can come in quite handy after an emergency and/or natural disaster such as Sandy.  But instead of plastic bottles, why can't water be put into cans?  Aluminum cans have a higher recycling rate than plastic bottles and are made mainly from recycled aluminum - closer to a 'closed loop' than plastic can offer.  While I wish it was a coalition of craft brewers leading the way here, hats off to Budweiser for showing everyone that plastic bottled water is truly not needed.

In response to Sandy, a Budweiser plant in Georgia switched their production over from beer to canned water for New Jersey and New York.  According to a news release, the plant in Georgia is among the company’s plants packaging about 44,000 cases of emergency drinking water – or 1,056,000 cans – for residents impacted by Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters.  It's not the first time Anheuser-Busch has stepped up to help, they have donated over 71 million cans of water since 1988 in addition to millions in cash donations to relief efforts.

This begs the question, why do we need bottled water?  Vote with your dollar and fill up your reusable bottle.  Encourage your school, sports team, community group, etc. to ditch the bottled water also for a bigger impact.  Get involved with your local Surfrider Foundation Chapter to help make a difference.