Another year, and Laundromat’s war against all things greenwashing continues. Last year we explored bogus carbon neutrality claims, sportswashing and the impressive efforts of the fossil fuel industry to divert attention away from the fundamental need to scale down oil and gas production. It also became increasingly evident that the fossil fuel industry was especially keen to keep ramping up the production of plastics.
This time last year, French food giant Danone was being taken to court by several environmental NGOs for misrepresenting and failing to address its enormous plastic footprint. Along with the likes of Coca Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé, Danone is one of the world’s top corporate plastic polluters. Now it seems that the plastic bottles themselves are not the only problem. Danone is the producer behind the Evian and Volvic brands of bottled mineral water, which are marketed as purer then pure. Evian’s website proudly proclaims: “[our] water comes from a pristine and protected Alpine mountain source. It’s a uniquely sourced mineral water that’s naturally hydrating and refreshing, with nothing added for taste and it isn’t enhanced with extras – so you can reach your natural peak.”
This statement is not entirely accurate. Although no brands are explicitly named, a new scientific study has revealed alarming levels of micro and nano-plastics in bottled water. So yes, nothing is added for taste, but the mineral water industry’s convenient addiction to plastic bottles means that consumers may ingest up to 240,000 particles of plastic for each refreshing, invigorating, Alpine-inspired litre of mineral water. According to the researchers, the particles originate from the bottles themselves as well as other components used in the filtration process prior to bottling. They have been able to identify the presence of vastly greater levels of contaminants than previously observed thanks to improved detection technologies. 90% of the particles consisted of minuscule nano-plastics that are not only hard to detect but also so small that they are especially easy for the human body to absorb.
Here’s a New Year’s resolution for Laundromat readers: give up on drinks in single-use plastic bottles. Not only are they clogging up the environment in their billions, but now we have another perhaps more selfish reason to avoid them. Tap water is not immune to microplastic contamination, but the study concluded that the situation was markedly worse for bottled water. Meanwhile, drinks manufacturers would do better to stick with infinitely recyclable aluminium containers. This might eat into their profit margin, but the cost to our health and to the global environment will be far lower.
