Water Scam

Phil: So bottled water has been questioned for 20 years, 30 years, since it first came on the market. We've heard questions about where's the water really come from, you know, the couple years ago, or I guess probably about 10 years ago, one of the major brands on the east coast somebody did an analysis and found that while it was coming from a spring, the spring was actually under a parking lot. You know, that, that a lot of this water stuff, which is why it's so important when you get bottled water to read the fine print, is it purified water from municipal source? 

Phil: Which so many of them are, is it reverse osmosis? Does it actually come from, from a spring somewhere? But now there's, there's this latest scandal, which I I've gotta tell you when I read this, I was shocked. I was bemused and I, and I just had to shake my head saying this has gotta be the stupidest company in the world, or at least their attorneys are. So if you recall, Nestle sold off their general commercial waters, like Poland Spring and Arrowhead, and so on, they sold that off maybe a year or so ago, the new company's called Blue Triton. And there's a group that is suing them, brought them to court. And I'll tell you the name of the group in a second, it's on this piece of paper here,where you might be able to find it faster.

Sally: It's the Earth Island Institute. 

Phil: Thank you, the Earth Island Institute. So what they're saying is that while all these water companies that what they're saying is that the claims that these water companies are doing about their packaging about their plastic packaging are bogus. Just to give you some idea. Blue Triton alone contributes hundreds of millions of pounds of plastic to the US landfills. They own about a third of bottled water brands here in the US, but their attorneys, their attorneys answered this by saying that being environment friendly or its claims of being environmentally friendly are not violations of the law because they're aspirational, even though on their website, they spell out a promise for sustainable stewardship for pine trees, pristine water, and clouds. You know, they, they're saying that everyone should realize that their claims, this is what their attorney writes, that their claims are meaningless nonsense. 

Sally: Yes. And this is, this is incredibly insulting to consumers. I feel, to manipulate them that way and then not take responsibility, you know, or just say, or, or just make a statement that, you know, well, that's the way it's interesting. I was having a conversation when I was in Spain last week with a friend of mine, because the recycling way that they recycle there or make it available to you is, is really wonderful. But when I was talking to my friend about this who lives over there, you know, her comment was, you know, but recycling plastic is a scam. And I think we all are really confused about, okay, if I'm buying these, you know, these, pet plastic bottles, is that better? Sm I being better if I'm putting these in the recycle bin, is that better? 

Sally: If I'm buying from a company like Blue Triton, that's giving me this message that they are keeping bottles out of the landfill. You know, it's, it's, it's such a gray area with all of these companies and, and you don't know if you are doing the right thing. I personally enjoyed the fact that when I was in San Francisco this last year, that everywhere that I went to buy water was it was in an aluminum bottle. Dasani was aluminum. I didn't see any plastic bottles. And I think we just gotta move away from plastic. 

Phil: Absolutely. And, you know, Blue Triton CEO, if you're listening or watching fire your attorneys, I mean, these, these have gotta be the stupidest people ever, and we have a big problem because Blue Triton is touting itself as a solution to America's water problems. At the same time, they've been caught extracting water from the national forest without authorization. I mean, this story just goes on and on and on about how these companies are making all these empty promises about the environment and we're to the point where we don't have a choice, we, we really don't have a choice anymore. When it comes to climate change, when it comes to the environment, you know, we're consuming more plastic than ever before. In fact, the average person is drinking more than 1700 tiny bits of plastic per week in drinking water, 1700 tiny bits of plastic. I don't want that in my body.