Bottled Water Business Is on the Decline

By Dana Chivvis, Sphere, Dec. 18, 2009

After nearly two weeks of disappointments in Copenhagen, environmentalists can celebrate one small piece of news today: Bottled water sales are down and are expected to continue to fall next year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.

The $11 billion bottled-water industry saw nothing but growth for three decades, peaking in 2007 when each person consumed 29 gallons of bottled water a year, MSNBC reports. That number was down 3.2 percent in 2008 and is expected to drop another 2 percent this year.

The fall in consumption may have to do with a movement to make people aware of the effects plastic has on the environment. Because it takes plastic up to 1,000 years to break down naturally, water bottles contribute greatly to the buildup of trash in the environment.

One place particularly hard hit is a swirling area of water in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The water in this area is filled with an estimated 3.5 million tons of trash, much of which is plastic.

Environmentalists also point to the toxicity of plastic production and the health hazards that exist from drinking or eating from plastic containers. In 2007, scientists discovered that one of the chemicals used in plastic, bisphenol A, interferes with embryonic development in a way that may lead to obesity in adults.

If that's not enough to make you put down the bottle, the Sierra Club adds that water companies are drying up household wells and lakes, affecting wetlands, and using three times the amount of water that goes into one of their bottles to produce the water itself.

But the environmental movement might not be able to take all the credit for the decline in bottled water sales. The dip could be because of the recession. Bottled water sales fell less than all other beverages this year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.

"Environmental concerns among consumers may have had an effect on bottled water sales, but the primary reason sales are soft is the economy," said Gary Hemphill, managing director of the Beverage Marketing Corp.

Still, some bottled water producers have taken the environmentalist's message to heart. Nestlé, the world's largest bottler, has begun producing bottles that use less plastic and has introduced a new brand, called Resource, that uses bottles made from 35 percent recycled plastic. The company is also giving out money for local recycling programs, MSNBC reports.

Tom Lauria, spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association, said the industry is even working on plastic bottles made from biodegradable corn.

"We will see in our lifetime biodegradable plastic, and this whole controversy will disappear," he said.

But while he sees the controversy inherent in his industry, Lauria doesn't think the environmentalists have had any effect on bottled water sales.

"People love their bottled water."

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