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Green shopping list - eggs, bread - oh and a carton of water

"Boxed water is better" - the boxed water project is hoping that customers will consider a more sustainable alternative to bottles.

Our global consumption of bottled water is up 54 per cent in the past five years with studies placing our annual use at 154 billion litres. In Australia, we're drinking 550 million litres a year says CHOICE magazine and that requires 2.7 million tonnes of plastic to make the bottles. And even with increased recycling rates, around 35 per cent in Australia, our consumption rate greatly outpaces it.

A number of intiatives have been put forth to help address this growing concern. The Bottled Water Alliance in Australia, headed by Planet Ark founder, Jon Dee, launched a number of filtered water stations at Manly beach to help curb bottled water use. Six water bubblers were installed at Manly Corso and Manly beachfront, with eight more scheduled to be put in this year.

"Australia needs to do something about the lack of good quality water bubblers in public spaces," says Dee. Further, Dee claims that "bottled water is an environmental menace and it also hits consumers in the hip pocket", especially in these times of economic frugality. A standard litre of bottled water in Australia costs up to $4, a 2500 per cent mark up from tap water.

Meanwhile, in the US, a company is looking into a "boxed water" alternative. These stylish and simple packages are made from recyclable paper and can be flat packed for more efficient transport. The paper is sourced from sustainable plantation forest and the company says they donate 20 per cent of their profits back to environmental causes. Aqua2Go is another company which supplies water in popper cartons which can also be recycled.

These companies are currently only distributing in the US and certainly any manufacturing and resource requirements are greater than those that come from tap.

Read more about the Bottled Water Alliance

Find out more about Boxed Water and Aqua2go.

What do you think about water? Can water that is packaged and sold be sustainable? Have your say on the Green Pages Blog.

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