Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year. You can do your part to get involved too!
Objective – A local construction company wanted to “do their part” and help the environment in some way. Their first thought was how many of their employees were drinking bottled water each day, and they began to wonder how they could change this.
Startling Facts – How many bottles of water do you drink every week? Maybe not a whole lot, since the trend towards reusable water bottles has gained significant momentum over the past few years. Yet you might be surprised to know that Americans still consume half a billion water bottles every week. Clearly, we must be on to something, right? People must drink bottled water because it’s healthier, cheaper and tastes better, right? WRONG. Actually, bottled water is often of lower quality and less regulated than tap water, and it is consistently 2,000 times more expensive than the almost free water coming from our taps. What’s really going on is that bottled water companies spend a lot of money to create a façade of beauty, cleanliness, and health for their products. Consequently, although many areas in the world are plagued by unsafe drinking water, the companies’ advertising convinces people who live in cities with perfectly safe water that tap water is dangerous. Bottled water even regularly loses taste tests when compared to tap water! Even worse? ONE-THIRD of the bottled water we drink actually comes from the tap!
Not only is bottled water unnecessary for many people, it is also harmful to the environment. Only 20 percent of the bottles are recycled, and the rest end up in landfills or incinerators. They are also wasteful when they are being made – each year, enough oil and energy needed to fuel a million cars is used to manufacture water bottles.
Result – The head of the construction company found this information to be rather disturbing and wanted to help. He decided to get all his employees a 20 oz Personal Stainless Steel Vacuum Water Bottle to help cut back on their contribution to bottled water. He also stopped buying bottled water for the break room, which would help enforce the idea for his employees to use the new water bottles. The employees loved them and the vacuum seal kept their ice and water cold for days. Many of the employees also liked that their boss took a stand and was willing to make a change for the environment. Overall, the company is more environmentally friendly and aware of changes that need to be made.
Case Study provided by Starline, a partner of Lipics. Information provided by, Annie Leonard’s “The Story of Bottled Water.”
Employee Personal Water Bottle