Think Outside the Bottle Hosts Events Across the Country

Launch Day events across the U.S.:

Austin, TX
When: October 10th , 2007, 10:30 am

Where: City Hall Plaza, Austin, TX.

Who: David Foster, environmental expert from Austin's Clean Water Action
Rev. Paul Collinson-Streng, the Lutheran Campus Pastor at Lutheran Campus Ministry

What: Religious groups, environmental and corporate accountability organizations, and students are launching a pledge drive that asks city officials to "think outside the bottle." At the event, community leaders will take the Tap Water Challenge (think The Pepsi Challenge, but with tap water and leading bottled water brands) and offer brief comments.

Why: For months the momentum has been growing for cities to cancel bottled water contracts and prioritize investment in public water systems. The groundswell has resulted from widespread consumer concern over the waste stream of plastic bottles. Media reports have also focused on how bottled water can cost thousands of times the price of tap water, even though up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source. Buoyed by these concerns, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has pledged to support municipal water systems and analyze the amount of waste caused by bottled water. Events around the country are calling on people to choose public tap water over bottled water. By ending city bottled water purchases, Austin can solidify its place as the emerging Greenest City in the US.

Contact: Daniel Gradess, Corporate Accountability International - Office: (512) 236-0774, Cell: (347) 721-726
Nick Guroff, Corporate Accountability International - (617) 695-2503

Click here for the Austin Press Release

Baltimore, MD
When: 11am, October 10th

Where: Lake Montebello, intersection of Lake Drive and Erdman Ave

Who: Keith Losoya, Exec Director of Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance
Aaron Mintzes, Clean Water Action
Jenna Garland, Corporate Accountability International

Contact: Jenna Garland, Corporate Accountability International - (410) 467-2528

Boston,MA
When: Wednesday, October 10th, 11:00am

Where: Boston City Hall Plaza

Who: James W. Hunt, Environment and Energy Services, Office of the Mayor
Katherine Manzier, CEO, Bella Luna Restaurant
Lisa Fuller, CISPES-Boston (Campaign In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador)
Deborah Lapidus, National Organizer, Corporate Accountability International

What: Religious groups, environmental and social change organizations, and students are launching a pledge drive that asks city officials to “think outside the bottle.” At the event, community leaders will take the Think Outside the Bottle Pledge, opting for tap water over bottled water, and offer brief comments.

Why: For months the momentum has been growing for cities prioritize investment in public water systems. The groundswell has resulted from widespread consumer concern over the waste stream of plastic bottles. Media reports have also focused on how bottled water can cost thousands of times the price of tap water, even though up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source . Buoyed by these concerns, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has pledged to support municipal water systems and analyze the amount of waste caused by bottled water. Events around the country are calling on people to choose public tap water over bottled water.

Contact: Liz Gary, Corporate Accountability International - (617) 747-4382
Nick Guroff, Corporate Accountability International - (617) 695-2503

Chicago, IL
When: 10:00 AM, October 10

Where: Navy Pier Filtration Plant, 500 East Grand

Who: Member of Eigth Day Center for Justice
Alderman George Cardenas, 12th Ward
Rose Lattyak, Corporate Accountability Member

What: Religious groups, environmental and corporate accountability organizations, and students are launching a pledge drive that asks city officials to “think outside the bottle.” At the event, community leaders will take the Tap Water Challenge (think The Pepsi Challenge, but with tap water and leading bottled water brands) and offer brief comments.

Why: For months the momentum has been growing for cities to cancel bottled water contracts and prioritize investment in public water systems. The groundswell has resulted from widespread consumer concern over the waste stream of plastic bottles. Media reports have also focused on how bottled water can cost thousands of times the price of tap water, even though up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source . Buoyed by these concerns, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has pledged to support municipal water systems and analyze the amount of waste caused by bottled water. Events around the country are calling on people to choose public tap water over bottled water.

Contact: Elizabeth Martin-Craig,Corporate Accountability International - (312) 291-0696 ext. 214
Nick Guroff, Corporate Accountability International - (617) 695-2503

Click here for the Chicago Press Release

Minneapolis, MN
When: Wednesday, October 10, 2007, 10:00am

Where: Steps of City Hall, Minneapolis

Who: Jeremy Hanson, Communications Director, Mayor Rybak’s office
Liz Larson, Macalester College
Pete Williams, St. Olaf College
Amber Collett, Corporate Accountability International

What: Corporate Accountability and Minnesota student groups are launching a pledge drive that asks city officials to “think outside the bottle.” At the event, we will be announcing high profile pledge signers and inviting citizens to participate in a Tap Water Challenge (think The Pepsi Challenge, but with tap water and leading bottled water brands) and offer brief comments.

Why: For months the momentum has been growing for cities to cancel bottled water contracts and prioritize investment in public water systems. The groundswell has resulted from widespread consumer concern over the waste stream of plastic bottles. Media reports have also focused on how bottled water can cost thousands of times the price of tap water, even though up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source . Buoyed by these concerns, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has pledged to support municipal water systems and analyze the amount of waste caused by bottled water. Events around the country are calling on people to choose public tap water over bottled water. Minneapolis is a leader in the Midwest on environmental initiatives and the collapse of the 35 W bridge further highlights the importance of investing in public infrastructure and as the City of Lakes, water is a vitally important resource for the city to protect.

Contact: Amber Collett, Corporate Accountability International- (612) 379-5745
Nick Guroff, Corporate Accountability International - (617) 695-2503

Oakland, CA
When: 11am, October 10

Where: Outside city hall, downtown Oakland

Who: Andy Katz, Board of Directors, East Bay Municipal Utilities District
Nancy Skinner, Board of Directors, East Bay Regional Park District
Kent Lewandowski, Executive Committee Chair, Sierra Club, Northern Alameda Chapter
Adam Scow, Activist, Food and Water Watch
Rachael Goodyer, Corporate Accountability International

What: Environmental and corporate accountability organizations, religious groups and students are launching a pledge drive that asks city officials to “think outside the bottle.” At the event, local officials and community leaders will take the Tap Water Challenge (think The Pepsi Challenge, but with tap water and leading bottled water brands) and offer brief comments. This is ahead of the state deadline for the “The Bottled and Vended Water Accountability Act”, SB220 introduced by California State Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) this Sunday.

Why: For months the momentum has been growing for cities to cancel bottled water contracts and prioritize investment in public water systems. The groundswell has resulted from widespread consumer concern over the waste stream of plastic bottles. Media reports have also focused on how bottled water can cost thousands of times the price of tap water, even though up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source . Buoyed by these concerns, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has pledged to support municipal water systems and analyze the amount of waste caused by bottled water. Events around the country are calling on people to choose public tap water over bottled water.

Contact: Rachael Goodyer, Corporate Accountability International - (510) 809-7353
Nick Guroff, Corporate Accountability International - (617) 695-2503

Click here for the Oakland Press Release

Portland, OR
When: 12:00 pm, October 10

Where: Central Library, US Bank Meeting Room 801 S.W. 10th Ave

When: Tom Long, President, Citizens For Safe Drinking Water
Student Activists and Leaders
Nicholas Carby-Denning, Corporate Accountability International Spokesperson

What: Water, environmental and corporate accountability organizations, and students are launching a pledge drive that asks city officials to “think outside the bottle.” The event will launch a mass national consumer action of thousands pledging to drink tap over bottled water. Here in Portland the Think Outside the Bottle campaign is calling on the mayor Tom Potter and commissioner Randy Leonard to stand behind Portland’s tap water over bottled water. At the event, students and community members will take the Tap Water Challenge (think The Pepsi Challenge, but with tap water and leading bottled water brands), discuss local concerns and offer brief comments.

Why: For months the momentum has been growing for cities to cancel bottled water contracts and prioritize investment in public water systems. The groundswell has resulted from widespread consumer concern over the waste stream of plastic bottles. Media reports have also focused on how bottled water can cost thousands of times the price of tap water, even though up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source . Buoyed by these concerns, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has pledged to support municipal water systems and analyze the amount of waste caused by bottled water. Events around the country are calling on people to choose public tap water over bottled water.

Contact: Nicholas Carby-Denning, Corporate Accountability International - (203) 645-7536
Nick Guroff, Corporate Accountability International - (617) 695-2503

Pepsi Call-In Day - Take Action!

Pepsi Call-In Day– Tell Pepsi to get rid of their deceptive logo!

Do you know where your bottled water comes from? Probably not, because bottled water corporations like Pepsi, Coke, and Nestlé are reluctant to disclose this information. Instead, they prefer to use misleading branding to undermine confidence in public water systems and shape consumers perceptions of bottled water without revealing information about the sources or sites of the water they bottle. For example, the most popular bottled water brand, Aquafina, is just processed tap water, despite the image of the snow-capped mountain that appears on every label. That’s right; you could get virtually the same water out of your own tap for free!

Join Corporate Accountability International’s Pepsi Day of Action! Ask Pepsi when they will remove the misleading mountain logo on the Aquafina label and become transparent about the sources of the water they bottle. Pepsi is paying attention to this: now we need your help to step up the pressure! Every year, millions of dollars are spent to undermine the public’s faith in their municipal water systems. What we don’t realize, however, is that the water we get out of the tap is regulated far more than the bottled water we buy.

Think Outside the Bottle! Take action and join hundreds of people across the country in calling Pepsi today, in a joint Day of Action. Go to http://www.ThinkOutsideTheBottle.org/ for phone numbers and a script to help make your call faster and easier!

Thank you!


Background/What’s at Stake

• Ads do not disclose that more than one-fourth of bottled water sold in the U.S. comes from municipal sources, just like tap water.
• Pepsi’s Aquafina label features a beautiful picture of a snow-covered mountain, even though Aquafina is filtered municipal tap water.
• Bottled water corporations spent $158 million on advertising in 2005, promoting bottled water as better than tap water and undermining confidence in our public water systems.
• Bottled water corporations are changing the way people think about water. Today, three of four Americans drink bottled water, and one in five drink only bottled water.

Contact Pepsi!

Call Pepsi at (800) 433-2652.

Hi, my name is ________. I’d like to speak to CEO Indra Nooyi, please.

You will likely be asked what the question is, or to leave a message: I want to ask Ms. Nooyi, when will Pepsi remove the snow-capped mountain logo from Aquafina as a step toward revealing the sites and sources of water used for bottling? After all, Aquafina uses municipal water as its source.

If Pepsi representative responds: I’m joining other people around the country who believe water is a fundamental human right that must not be turned into a for-profit commodity. Please share my question and comment with CEO Nooyi.

Email to CEO Indra Nooyi at boardofdirectors@pepsi.com:

Dear Indra Nooyi,

The Aquafina Mountain label is misleading to consumers. The logo makes people think that the Aquafina water comes from a mountain spring, yet in reality it is purified municipal water. I want to know when Pepsi is planning to remove the logo as a step toward revealing the sites and sources of the water used for bottling.

I am joining other people around the country who believe water is a fundamental human right that must not be turned into a for-profit commodity. I urge your corporation to reveal the sources and sites of water used for bottling, publicly report breaches in bottled water quality, comparable to reports by public water systems, and stop threatening local control of water when sing and operating bottled water plants.

Thank you for your prompt response to this important issue.
Sincerely,




Please let Corporate Accountability know what happened

After you call, please take a moment to let Corporate Accountability know what happened. You can report your phone calls by calling Campaign Headquarters at 800-688-8797 or by sending an e-mail to activistnetwork@StopCorpoateAbuse.org.

Corporate Accountability International is a membership based organization that for 30 years has been protecting people around the world from dangerous and irresponsible corporate practices. For more information on Corporate Accountability International, go to http://www.StopCorporateAbuse.org/.

City, State:__________________
Date:____________________
Length of Call: ______ minutes
Time:____________ AM/PM

DID YOU …

•Get Put on Hold • Get a Busy Signal • Get Disconnected
•Spoke with Rep - What did they say? (Please be specific! Use additional page, if necessary.) Name of person you spoke to: _________________
Person's title: ____________________________
Person's department: _______________________
Thank-you for taking action - let us know about your call!
E-mail your reporting form to activistnetwork@stopcorporateabuse.org or call 800.688.8797.

Related posts:
• Pepsi Response - Bottled Water
• 7 Facts You Never Knew About Bottled Water
• The Simplest and Most Effective Way to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
• Bottled Water Miniseries

Aquafina Labels to Say 'Tap Water'

Aquafina labels to give source: tap water

PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry. According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world's No. 2 beverage company will include the words "Public Water Source" on Aquafina labels.

"Concerns about the bottled-water industry, and increasing corporate control of water, are growing across the country," said Gigi Kellett, director of the "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, which aims to encourage people to drink tap water.

You can make a difference. It worked. That is amazing in its own way, but in a good way.

Bottled Water Graph

This is an interesting graph from the New York Times, comparing bottled water and tap water along with other drinks:



Bottled water is a huge waste of resources and time. It also contributes to global warming.

Pepsi Response - Bottled Water

I emailed Pepsi, and I recieved the following response:


Thank you for contacting us. In fact, we are in the process of clarifying our Aquafina label. We started discussions with Corporate Accountability earlier this year when they raised questions about Aquafina's labeling, and have shared those concerns directly with PepsiCo's CEO.

We have reviewed Aquafina's label with the goal of making it more clear and consistent about identifying the source of the water. We have decided to add the words "Public Water System" to clearly indicate the origin of the water. From there, Aquafina’s HydRO-7 purification system removes substances most other bottled waters leave in. What this means is that no matter where you buy your Aquafina, it tastes the same – every time, everywhere.

This change will occur over time as new labels are printed for Aquafina to avoid unnecessary waste of existing, pre-printed materials. Additional questions about Aquafina's sources can be directed to either Pepsi-Cola's tollfree Consumer information hotline or website at www.aquafina.com.

We appreciate your thoughts and want you to know we take your comments and the suggestions of Corporate Accountability very seriously.

Sincerely,

Elaine Palmer
Director, External Relations
PepsiCo, Inc.

Related posts:
• Pepsi Call-In Day - Take Action!
• 7 Facts You Never Knew About Bottled Water
• The Simplest and Most Effective Way to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
• Bottled Water Miniseries

Anti-Bottled Water Campaign to Go Live!

Yesterday I received this email from the Think Outside the Bottle campaign, a campaign this blog has been actively involved in (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and finally here. Whew.):



Hello,

This summer Jane Olszewski, an intern with Corporate Accountability International emailed you to draw your attention to the Think Outside The Bottle campaign. Thanks to blogs like yours the campaign has received a lot of media attention and has been a great success. As you may know one the highlights came in late July when PepsiCo finally changed the label on their Aquafina bottled water to acknowledge it comes from a public water source.

Because you have shown passion and dedication for this very important cause, I wanted to contact you on behalf of Corporate Accountability International and the Think Outside The Bottle campaign to let you know that Wednesday, October 10th is our official pledge launch. We have a website at http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org/ to serve as a central source for news and information about the campaign and the issues that we want to address. The website will be going live on Wednesday.

On the morning of October 9th we will be having a national press call to get information to media outlets across the country. On October 10th we are hosting events all around the country to promote the campaign and support strong public water systems. It is also very important for us to keep the blogging community informed about the campaign’s progress and to let people know about the pledge, which can be signed at http://www.stopcorporateabusenow.org/campaign/think_outside_the_bottle_pledge. The website also has a pledge kit to promote hands-on local activism in every community.
We appreciate your participation in the campaign so far, and it would be great to have your continued involvement. Would you be interested not only in signing the pledge, but also posting about it and letting your readers know about this next stage of the campaign?

As the pledge launches this week there are many major opportunities for change on the horizon. We already have a number of activists, schools, community groups, companies, and organizations that are taking part and your help would be very much appreciated. Please feel free to look around the website and let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks very much for your time,

Nick Romanow
Campaigns Intern



If you’re interested, check out the campaign website.

Bottled Water Refund Payout per State

Stat blogs at The Statistics Monster. If you would like to blog here, send us an email at worldthoughts(at)gmail(dot)com.



There are 12 states with bottle deposit refunds. You know, those things where you bring in your bottles and they give you money? Here they are:

California: 5 or 10 cents
Connecticut: 5 cents
Delaware: 5 cents
Hawaii: 5 cents
Iowa: 5 cents, also applies to wine bottles
Maine: 5 cents, also applies to fruit juice and bottled water, 15 cents for some wine bottles
Massachusetts: 5 cents
Michigan: 10 cents
New York: 5 cents
Oregon: 5 cents
Vermont: 5 cents

The northeast seems to have the highest amount of states with a refund policy.

Source: Wikipedia

Plastic Bags Statistics - And They're Not Looking So Good

Petroleum-based grocery bags hit the checkout aisle in 1977. Presented as a revolutionary idea, they are now recognized as an environmental hazard. Just like bottled water, plastic bags are made from crude oil, contributing to global warming.

The Numbers

Up to 1000 - Estimated years for a plastic bag to decompose.
1460 - Plastic bags used in a year by an average family of four in the U.S.
12 million - Barrels of oil used to make the plastic bags that the U.S. consumes annually.
Less than 1% - Percentage of all plastic bags that get recycled in the U.S.
88.5 billion – Plastic bags consumed in the U.S. last year.
500 billion – Estimated plastic bags sold worldwide each year.

The Countries

San Francisco has banned non-biodegradable plastic bags in large grocery stores.
Ireland has a $.20 tax per bag.
France is banning plastic bags starting 2010 and starting 2008 in Paris.
South Africa has banned thin plastic bags
Uganda has banned thin plastic bags and has taxes on thicker ones.
Kenya is banning plastic bags starting 2008.
Zanzibar Islands have banned all plastic bags.
Mumbai, New Delhi, and two states in India have banned all plastic bags.
Bangladesh has banned all plastic bags.
Taiwan has banned all plastic bags as well as disposable plastic plates, cups, and cutlery.

HP Recycling Bottled Water Bottles to Produce Ink Cartridges

HP HQ (TGW) – Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced today that it has developed a system to use recycled plastic to manufacture its ink cartridges.

More than 200 million cartridges have already been produced using 5 million pounds of recycled plastic already.

5 million pounds of plastic would fill more than 200 tractor trailers.

The program combines recycled plastic bottles with other recycled plastic and up to 30% new plastic to create the cartridges.

Via :: Press Release