It sounds as though Americans are finally coming to their senses. Sales of bottled water are on the decline for the first time in 5 years. Looking back it seems like such a sign of the “go go go” years when the economy was humming along at such a nice pace, everything was all about convenience (without much thought about the overall impact left behind) and there were big efforts to reduce the amounts of soda consumed and go healthy by drinking more water. We thought we were doing the right thing – by drinking more water we and our kids will be better off. But in the meantime, only 10% of the bottles (yes TEN percent – yipes) were getting recycled (source: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation). That’s a lot of waste – especially considering the fact that the growth in sales of bottled water was skyrocketing – “Sales of bottled water swelled 59 percent to $5.1 billion between 2003 to 2008, making it one of the fastest growing beverages.” (Source: Washington Post article)

But now, it looks as though the tides have turned. The Washington Post reported recently that “sales of bottled water have fallen for the first time in at least five years, assailed by wrathful environmentalists and budget-conscious consumers, who have discovered that tap water is practically free.” Duh – really, what were we thinking? Is it that hard to get a reusable bottle and fill it up from the tap? Especially since we now start hearing that brands like Coke’s Dasani and Pepsi’s Aquafina are just tap water (Check out this CNN article). It really does make you realize how easily we can be swayed. And it does seem pretty silly, doesn’t it?

I, of course, say this all as someone who includes herself in the “duped” category. We would buy our cases of bottled water at Costco before we went on vacation or for parties or sometimes just to have around the house. And I’m not suggesting that there is no need for them at all – it’s just that we need to recognize that it is wasteful to use them and they should be saved for very specific uses – not “just to have.”

Our family just returned from a week in Disney (which was a blast, by the way). But we brought our refillable bottles wherever we went. Just threw them in the backpack – and then refilled them at water fountains throughout the parks. Easy, convenient and definitely eco-friendly. So why not? And as a side note, although Disney does not have many recycling bins around the parks, I have it on “insider information” that they DO recycle in their famous “underground” system – which makes me feel better because there is a lot of trash produced at those parks.