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Empty bottles marked "Tap Water"

Empty plastic bottles marked "Tap Water"
  (+15, -2)(+15, -2)
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Around 1995-2000, a rapid shift in drinking water styles appeared to take place in my corner of the world, and probably elsewhere as well.

At about this time, bottled water became very popular, and the construction of new drinking fountains largely ceased to take place.

Since then, many have presumed that people are buying bottled water like crazy, and not drinking any more tap water. However, more recent observation I have been conducting reveals that many individuals actually buy only one, or a few bottles, and refill them with tap water several times.

The bottled water companies, of course, continues to get advertising from the wrapper on their bottles.

Government facilities, of course, would likely prefer people to be spending more on government services, such as tap water.

Thus, I propose that some entity, (the government would stand to profit most...) sell empty, sterile, pre-sealed, bottles, marked "Tap Water." Because these bottles need not be filled with anything by the manufacturer, and are lighter during transportation, they can be sold for far less than bottled water containing "pure" water from any source.

One can then sell the empty bottles, for a profit, and since the bottles must be filled with tap water afterwards at least once, the government should see a slight increase in tap water bills as well.

Meanwhile, if advertising works at all, it is probable that more people will use the "Tap water" bottles, or at least more consciously realize that the plastic water bottles can be reused multiple times before disposal. This should cut costs in disposal services.

ye_river_xiv, Apr 30 2009

Hawaiian tap water bottles http://www.lanikaib...com/hatapwabo1.html
[jutta, Apr 30 2009]

Take Back the Tap campaign bottle https://salsa.democ...orefront_KEY=580&t=
[jutta, Apr 30 2009]

etc. etc. http://www.manchest...ree_reusable_bottle
[jutta, Apr 30 2009]

[link]






       What happens if a company calling itself Tap Water starts selling bottled water? [+]
xenzag, Apr 30 2009
  

       That would merely reinforce the tap water trend. The Tap Water company wouldn't be able to claim they filled their bottles at some remote, hitherto undiscovered mountain spring or whatnot.
Veho, Apr 30 2009
  

       //What happens if a company calling itself Tap Water //
sp. "Coca Cola"
coprocephalous, Apr 30 2009
  

       Ideally, water companies should start selling expensive bottled water. This would be just the tap water they produce put in a bottle and given a fancy name. That way, my tap water costs would be subsidised by silly people who prefer to buy bottled water.
hippo, Apr 30 2009
  

       //The Tap Water company wouldn't be able to claim they filled their bottles at some remote, hitherto undiscovered mountain spring or whatnot.//

Peckham Spring water anyone?
DrBob, Apr 30 2009
  

       I should rephrase that.   

       People are more likely to believe it's actual spring water when the water is called Peckham Spring, than when it's called Tap Water Unlimited. No matter where it's actually bottled.
Veho, Apr 30 2009
  

       Peckham water was actually Lewes water I've been told!
po, Apr 30 2009
  

       //Ideally, water companies should start selling expensive bottled water. This would be just the tap water they produce put in a bottle and given a fancy name. That way, my tap water costs would be subsidised by silly people who prefer to buy bottled water.//   

       There's another worthwhile idea. They could call it Dasani...
ye_river_xiv, Apr 30 2009
  

       Empty bottles with various encouraging words printed on them are already being sold or given out to encourage tap water use. See link for three examples.   

       I find it baffling that you see this as the government trying to get people to buy from it - I'd have read it as an attempt to reduce garbage, since the amount of water a person actually drinks is quite small, compared to the amounts used in other ways.
jutta, Apr 30 2009
  

       The plastic bottles are only to be used for a few times? I think they should be for continuous use.
Ling, Apr 30 2009
  

       //I find it baffling that you see this as the government trying to get people to buy from it - I'd have read it as an attempt to reduce garbage, since the amount of water a person actually drinks is quite small, compared to the amounts used in other ways//   

       Reduction of waste in the form of discarded water bottles is one goal. Using bottles marked as "Tap Water," which would likely be reused more often than bottled water with a name brand. Since the Government, which sells the tap water, and contracts out garbage services, stands the most to gain, I propose that they initiate this enterprise.   

       Plastic bottles are to be used a few times. Name brand bottled water containers are intended to be used only once. Ours might be made somewhat more robust for a longer life span, but we can only make them so much sturdier before their cost makes purchasing the cheap, and pre-filled plastic water bottles more effective. In either case, users of "tap water" brand bottles are probably more likely to use their containers more times than users of name brand bottles.
ye_river_xiv, May 01 2009
  

       //Peckham water was actually Lewes water I've been told!//

Actually, it was Brighton water. My house makes a brief, background appearance in the episode!
DrBob, May 01 2009
  

       I think 21_Q has hit on the solution. I lke the idea of relabelling someone else's product because it cuts the cost of production way down.   

       I did something like this several years ago at a convention I attended. The company I was working for at the time had introduced a whole range of products branded with our own domestic names instead of the multinational trademarks we had carried (and paid licensing fees on) for decades. I downloaded samples of this new "house brand" and printed off a dozen or so labels to take with me. When I got to the convention relabelled a few bottles of water from one of the break areas and watched for reaction. My colleagues got a kick out of it, but the guy who laughed the hardest was the CEO.
Canuck, May 01 2009
  

       I quite like this idea, but when it comes to packing and transporting them there's a lot of delivery-van real-estate lost to empty air.   

       I'd suggest that the bottles be constructed much like a thicker version of the bendy bits in straws. They could be further compressed to reduce delivery costs and in my view would be more attractive to look at than regular water bottles.
fridge duck, May 01 2009
  

       Uhh, yeah. I recently had a rather traumatizing experience with 200+ bendy straws, as part of an unfruitful effort to obtain two straws which did not break when expanding them. Maybe that was just a bad batch.
ye_river_xiv, May 01 2009
  
      
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