<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/17/australia-the-second-thirstiest-country-for-bottled-water-despite-paying-the-highest-prices>
"Australia has the most expensive bottled water on the planet but that hasn’t
curbed consumer thirst for something people can basically get for free.
On average, Australians each spent about $580 buying 504 litres of bottled
water in 2021, a new UN report suggests.
It says that it’s the world’s second highest consumption rate per capita behind
Singapore.
Australians are also paying vastly more than anyone else, according to the
report.
It says bottled water costs an average of about $5.40 per unit in Australia –
almost double what it does in North America and Europe, and about four times
what is charged in Asia and Africa.
And yet the Aussie market is alive and well, with the UN University’s Institute
for Water, Environment and Health saying Australia is the 10th fastest-growing
national market in the world.
So why are Aussies willing to pay dearly for a product that dwarfs the cost of
tap water, which Sydney Water says comes in at well under 1 cent a litre? Why
continue to buy a product that generates vast streams of waste that are derived
from fossil fuels and are recycled a limited number of times?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
