Boxed Water Is Better has posed a compelling alternative to the forever problematic bottled water, and you guessed it, they put the water in a box.  Aiming to reduce the carbon-footprint of the portable water industry, the company uses sustainably harvested trees, ships the containers flat, and donates a portion of the profits to water relief foundations and reforestation.  While I commend them for their efforts, and agree that boxed is better than plastic, I think it still perpetuates a cycle of waste in an increasingly disposable society.

I’d rather see people using reusable water bottles, and focus on improving accessibility to clean drinking water for everyone.  But, as long as people insist on having disposable water containers, Boxed Water is a better way to go.  The company is still in it’s infancy it seems, so hopefully they could also rethink where the water is sourced, as bottled water often comes directly from public water sources and depletes local water tables.  And if they’re really looking to lower the carbon-footprint of the containers, they should biodegrade and be made from completely recycled recources.  While they’re thinking outside of the box (sorry, couldn’t resist), they should closely examine all points along the chain of portable water and strive to eliminate waste even more.

takepart with Food And Water Watch’s Take Back the Tap campaign and let me know if you think boxed water is better in the comments section below.