It's STILL a Plastic Bottle!

Every day, to and from work, I am treated to billboards proclaiming Dasani Bottled water, in new PlantBottles! I get them each way. I can't miss them. Have you seen this? Yes! So exciting! Purified bottled water now in a better plastic bottle! "PlantBottle: Up to 30% made from plants. Still a 100% recyclable bottle." Oh good. Yay. Because I was worried that, since it was still a largely plastic bottle, that it might end up in the ocean, not get recycled. Oh wait... it might very likely end up in the ocean anyway.

But it's OK to use it! They are saving precious resources! They say so right on their site! They are using corn-based ethanol. I think. Yeah. There's some kind of plant material mimicking the plastic in there... mixing with the PET... so they are using less actual petroleum... so... hmm... it could be they are saving money on petroleum-based plastic with a cheaper plant-based plastic that is still plastic and looks like plastic and acts like plastic.... and feels like plastic... and floats in the Gyre like plastic... um, GREAT! It COULD be that they are just saving themselves money and trying to get the "green" angle to MAKE more money, too... naaaah. CocaCola Wouldn't do THAT.... They CARE about the PLANET... not the bottom line! Really!

TreeHugger site had an article that mentioned, "It is estimated that we have 6 times more plastic than plankton in our Oceans." Does that alarm you? It alarms me. Sure, these great terrific new bottles from our friendly friends at the Earth-friendly company of Coca Cola use less petroleum, but... that's about it. You know the old saying: "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..." well, this looks like plastic and acts like plastic, so, therefore, ergo, et cetera.

Don't be lured into thinking this bottle is any better. It is not. TreeHugger says in the same article, "Plastic bottles always suck, even if they're being recycled. That's because the energy it takes to recycle them is mind-boggling. It's no simple task to melt down all those bottles, and the plastic is usually degraded in the process and can't be used for food-grade products again."

There is only one answer: continue to avoid these bottles at all times.

I'll stick to wine. It comes in glass.