Boxed Water?

The first entirely synthetic plastic was invented in 1907 and since 1980 almost every facet of packaging has become plasticized. Packaging has done wonders for eliminating product waste, but In the case of water, it is a mere frivolity.

I was recently reading about a company that has created boxed water. Here is an excerpt from the site boxedwaterisbetter.com:

“[We] started with the simple idea of creating a new bottled water brand that is kinder to the environment and gives back a bit. We found that water shouldn’t be bottled at all, but instead, boxed. So we looked to the past for inspiration in the century old beverage container and decided to keep things simple, sustainable and beautiful.

About 90% of the Boxed Water container is made from a renewable resource, trees, that when harvested in a responsible, managed and ethical way serve as an amazing renewable resource that benefits the environment even as it’s renewed. Our carbon footprint is dramatically lower because our boxes are shipped flat to our filler and filled only as demand is created, as opposed to most bottled water companies that ship their empty bottles across the globe to be filled, then ship them back for consumption. The flat, unfilled boxes can fit on 2 pallets, or roughly 5% of a truckload. Empty plastic or glass bottles would require about 5 truckloads. Our cartons can also be broken down to their original flat state, are recyclable in most areas and will be recyclable everywhere shortly. We’re also giving 20% of our profits back to the resources our product is composed of–water and trees. Not only does it simply make sense, but we really enjoy supporting water and forestation organizations as it’s part of our company’s ethos and way of thinking to give back and participate. All that and an over-arching focus on simple and beautiful design that compliments our brand as well as the spaces it’s sold and consumed in.”

This picture from their site got me thinking:

Bottled water may be an unscrupulous usage of resources and most likely a huge scam perpetuated by evil corporations to people who already have endless amounts of potable water piped into their homes. And boxed water is just as unnecessary. I do wonder however, if we are not missing an opportunity here. Namely, boxed soda, boxed sports drinks, boxed wine (oh wait they have that already), etc.

I also remembered this image from Chris Jordan’s exhibit called “Running the numbers. An American Self Portrait”

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

Detail

Boxed water is better than bottled water, but we (as in we Americans) have unending amounts of water that comes to our house in pipes. Soda on the other hand, that needs a container. Wait a minute. Soda pipes! Now there’s a good idea…