I'm surprised we are not using plant based plastics.
Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
71–80 of 166 posts
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
> For countries without clean water, the effort should be put into getting municipal water supplies. And until the problem has been fixed, what exactly are they supposed to drink?
Usually they have water purifiers. From simple ceramic filters to fancy machines using reverse osmosis and UV treatment. In Thailand for example, they have vending machines dispensing drinking water into your own bottle.
We have a lot of them in the US. The usual ones are water machines for the big jugs like at Walmart. However, the companies selling machines that make bags of ice are adding purified water to their machines, too. One can see many styles by typing these words into Google images: ice vending machine bagged list.
Including the specific words since I got more nonsense results doing this search than about any other this year. Terms are too overloaded.
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Governments that do this in Europe fail horribly and just increase prices by huge multiples, nothing else. Last year a whole division of a capital city (Prague) got pretty seriously sick because of government failure. Today in the morning the water did not run at all. Thanks, government. I know HN is very leftist, so I expect downvotes. It'd be nice to have a discussion though.
Citations? I don't know much about European handling of drinking water.
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/two-charged-over-contami... (this is a government-sponsored public radio)
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#74Bottled water is a scam. It's less regulated than municipal tap water in most developed nations, companies suck up water from small towns and use tons of fuel to ship it out of those watersheds and then charge people 1000% markup. For countries without clean water, the effort should be put into getting municipal water supplies. Don't buy plastic disposable water bottles if you live in a developed nation. They prop up…
what do you suggest for people who cannot tolerate the taste of some tap water. The one in my area taste very metallic and makes tea/coffee brewed with it have an unpleasant flavor. I bought a brita-like water filter with great reviews on amazon, but despite that, some of the metallic flavor remains. My old home had a reverse osmosis system which tasted amazing, but I'm not going to invest in a super expensive water…
Get some water purifier with coal.
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can get a reverse osmosis system for ~$150. Maybe not cheap, but not super expensive either. Even if you're renting for a year and leave it behind that's less then $0.50 a day over one year.
Which leaves you with classical-clean-US-water - no taste, nothing. Doesn't taste good, doesn't taste bad, it's just not there.
I was concerned about that. Aren't there suppliers that sell mineral packets or something to fix that? Anyone know about that or have recommendations?
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#76Bottled water is a scam. It's less regulated than municipal tap water in most developed nations, companies suck up water from small towns and use tons of fuel to ship it out of those watersheds and then charge people 1000% markup. For countries without clean water, the effort should be put into getting municipal water supplies. Don't buy plastic disposable water bottles if you live in a developed nation. They prop up…
Say all you want but tap water just doesn't taste as good. Fix that problem and people won't mind switching.
The flavour partially down to several factors.
Psychology is one. Many blind tests of tap water filled in bottles has people fooled.
Temperature is another. Ice cool water, from office water coolers, or just with ice cubes. Partially again psychology but cool water tastes better, tap or not.
Source and water treatment obviously matters the most. In my experience tap water in Norway tastes really nice. It is where I grew up so my taste buds expect water to taste like that so that may be a reason, but I think it is also down to the source of the water and its filtration technology. And it is cold water. I only choose to drink bottled water there when it is more convenient, not for flavour. (Other mountainous, water-rich 1st world countries I have been to also seems to have nice flavoured water).
But where I live now, in another flat, full of people country, the tap water is very safe and clean but I do not like the flavour. I still drink it to quench a thirst but prefer bottled when there is a choice.
So I guess for large parts of the world the flavour will be decided by where they live.
Filters like https://www.brita.com probably makes it nicer but at an individual cost and less convenient.
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#77I drink a specific brand of bottled water because I don't like the taste of tap water. Filtering it takes some of the bad taste away, but adds none of the good.
I'll have to add "microplastic" as another one of my favorite spices.
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you live in one of those areas you're far better off with a filtration system than regularly purchasing bottled water which is also not in any way guaranteed to be safe.
It can take a lot to filter water safely. The classic carbon filter under the sink does very little to improve safety, even reverse osmosis can fall short. So, while you can make things safer it's far more difficult than many assume.
Sounds like the best option is to buy bottled water, and then filter out the microplastics.
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#79Hmm. That's concerning. I had more or less switched entirely off bottled water and now only use a combination of filtered tap water + reusable insulated bottles ala Kleen Kanteen at home and work, but I have recently started buying more sparkling water / club soda in an attempt to ween myself off Coke. Perhaps it's time I take the plunge and buy a SodaStream or comparable water carbonator.
I have a kegerator and always have 5 gallons of soda water on tap, I highly recommend making your own water. I would buy a 5 pound tank of CO2 and a few 2L bottles instead of a soda stream.
Re: Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study
#80Scary shit. An aside: what are people using for tap filters? Is Brita still the go-to company, or are there other better solutions?
Pur supposedly filters out a greater percentage of many different solutes than the standard Brita, but it looks like Brita came out with a new filter that does better than their old one. A longer discussion: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-water-filter-pitcher/