The double whammy of consumers' discretionary spending tapping out and environmentalists sounding the drumbeat that bottling water in plastic containers is harmful and wasteful has resulted in sales
falling for the first time in at least five years, Ylan Q. Mui reports.
Beverage Marketing Corp. says Americans drank 8.7 billion gallons of bottled water last year, compared with 8.8
billion in 2007. Per capita consumption dropped from 29 gallons to 28.5.
"It's an obvious way to cut back," says Joan Holleran, director of research for Mintel. "People might still be
buying bottled water, but you can bet that they're refilling those bottles." Wenonah Hauter, executive director of advocacy group Food & Water Watch, points out that besides landfill issues, the oil
needed to produce the plastic water bottles sold in the U.S could fuel one million cars for a year. Her message has been a decade in the making, she says, but really started to resonate with consumers
about three years ago.
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