Bottled Water will save the planet!

I saw this:


in my local supermarket earlier today and it almost took my breath way. It is a brand of bottled water called "Belu" which has the text "Stop Global Warming" emblazoned across the top of the pack along with "Penguin Approved - Less CO2 More Icebergs" and the statement that they use "The First Low Carbon Compostable Bottle - Made From Corn". I have seen some greenwash in my time but this surely will take some beating.

According to their wikipedia entry, the still water that Belu sell in these bottles is sourced from Shropshire and/or Wales. I live in Berkshire so the water will have been transported a fair way to get to my local supermarket using up a lot of CO2 in the process. Also, the genetically modifed corn that they use to manufacture the bottles is shipped from Nebraska.

Now, they do offset their carbon emissions but offsetting is something that you do as a last resort after all other possible CO2 cutting measures and the jury is still out on how effective it is. There is a much more environmentally friendly way to get water than buying Belu, or any other brand of still bottled water and that is out of your tap. If the water in your area is a bit too hard, get a Britta filter. There is no excuse for wasting your money and (whatever Belu claim) unneccessarily contributing to carbon emissions in this way.

They also claim to give all their profits to clean water projects in Africa but they have apparently refused to disclose how much this is.

It looks like someone has had a bit of a coup and managed to get http://www.belu.co.uk/ registered before Belu so that they can point out their shortcomings! I wonder how long that will last for.