When did we get away from the returnable bottles? You just keep the bottles, take them back to the store, trade them in, and get your new case of whatever it is you drink. Pretty simple and there isn\’t any waste. Even the cardboard box goes back to the manufacturer.

Honestly I doubt that heavy aluminium-coated paper (which is what tetra-pak is) is easier to recycle or more environmentally friendly than PET bottles, and they’re definitely not reusable.

Here in Sweden, plastic bottle recycling is upwards of 85% — achieved by placing a deposit of 12 cents on each bottle sold: http://pantamera.se/pet.asp

Still not good enough but a seemingly simple effective way to get people to recycle packaging.

Boxed water doesn\’t have that image. Instead, it says \”I care about the planet\”. So it is a clever marketing gimic to separate this brand from the others and nothing more.

The amount of energy used to transport either boxed or bottled water alone is purely wasteful and excessive. I agree with the others that simply carry along a refillable water bottle.

There are many countries, however, where tap water is not safe to drink and so bottled water is a necessity in large cities (I would hope rainwater would be an option outside of the big cities). If it is a fact that the vast majority of packaging is sent to the landfill, then other than changing people\’s behaviors or the delivery method (how about a vending machine that refills your own supplied container?), the packaging should at least be something that is biodegradable and responsible.

And I think that’s legitimate, except who’s going to buy boxed water? People who are concerned about the environmental impact of their designer water habit. I think it appeals most to the 14% who are already recycling.

Stonyfield Farm made a similar decision when they switched from hard-to-recycle #2 yogurt containers to harder-yet-to-recycle #5 containers. That decision seem more justified, though, since it’s a pragmatic way to deal with an institutional flaw (not accepting non-bottle plastics) instead of a personal, easy-to-fix flaw (not recycling super-easy-to-recycle plastic bottles).

There will always be a market for single-serve beverages, whether they be water or anything else, so reducing the harm in the manufacture and distribution of those products is something we should support… but in the end, smart people should simply have their own water on-hand.

Buy a reusable bottle and keep it filled. Simple.

It says “the company will donate 20% of profits to world water relief foundations” This seems speculative. 80% of the profit still goes to the company. Regardless of its intention, this still reminds me strongly of companies such as Vivendi, Nestle, and Coca-Cola.