Sheffielder's urged to get bottled water off the menu

17th July 2007

Sheffield's diners are being urged to make a stand for the environment by rejecting fancy bottled water and instead ordering tap water. The call comes after city officials in New York launched a campaign to persuade people to abandon bottled water.

Bottled water is now the world's fastest-growing drinks sector worth £1.2bn a year and research shows that it is now outselling coca-cola. Yet, new figures from the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) show that tap water has improved and now meets stringent quality standards in 99.98% of cases.

Green Councillor Bernard Little has warned that bottled water seriously damages the environment.

"Sheffielders need to use their native Yorkshire common sense and show that ordering tap water with your meal, or at the pub, is the right thing to do.Selling water in bottles and burning massive quantities of fossil fuels for its transportation does not make economic or environmental sense.

"Most containers for bottled water are made from non-degradable plastics, which take a 450 years to break down when disposed of in landfill sites. Even glass bottles of water still take a lot of energy to crush and recycle, whereas all we do with a restaurant glass of water is wash it up afterwards".

ENDS

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