“With global sales of bottled water expected to almost double to half a trillion dollars by 2030, it is more important than ever to strengthen regulation of the overall industry“: Study
“The fast-growing problem of water bottle plastic waste is already enough every year to fill a line of 40-ton trucks from New York to Bangkok“
New Delhi: One of the most severe environmental problems today is plastic pollution, and the bottle industry playing a big role in it. As per a new study, Over 1 million bottles of water are sold worldwide every minute and the annual spending per capita worldwide is US$ 34.
Global sales of bottled water are expected to nearly double by 2030.
Regarding plastic pollution, the report claimed that the industry produced around 600 billion plastic bottles and containers in 2021, which converts to some 25 million tonnes of PET waste, most of it not recycled and destined for landfills.
According to the report, the bottled water sector used 35% of the PET bottles produced globally in 2019; 85% wind up in landfills or unregulated waste.
The UN report was released a few days prior to World Water Day (March 22), by UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
The rapidly-growing bottled water industry can undermine progress towards a key sustainable development goal: safe water for all, said the United Nations report.
It also mentioned that that the unrestricted expansion of the bottled water industry “is not aligned strategically with the goal of providing universal access to drinking water.
Based on an analysis of data from 109 countries, the report said that in just five decades bottled water has developed into “a major and essentially standalone economic sector,” experiencing 73% growth from 2010 to 2020.
It said the sales are expected to almost double by 2030, from US$ 270 billion to $500 billion.
Kaveh Madani, UNU-INWEH Director, said “The rise in bottled water consumption reflects decades of limited progress in and many failures of public water supply systems.”
When the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed in 2015, he notes, experts elsewhere estimated an annual investment of US$ 114 billion was needed from 2015 to 2030 to achieve a key target: universal safe drinking water.
The report says providing safe water to the roughly 2 billion people without it woulds require an annual investment of less than half the US$ 270 billion now spent every year on bottled water.
Worldwide annual consumption of the three main bottled water types – treated, mineral, and natural – is estimated at 350 billion litres.
“The biggest market segment (with 47% of global sales) is treated bottled water, which could originate from public water systems or surface water, and that undergoes a disinfection treatment such as chlorination” said the report.
It informed that the USA is the largest market, with around US$ 64 billion in sales, followed by China (almost US$ 45 billion) and Indonesia (US$ 22 billion).
Together, these three countries constitute almost half of the world market. Other top countries by sales are Canada, Australia, Singapore, Germany, Thailand, Mexico, Thailand, Italy, Japan.
Biggest per capita consumers are Singapore and Australia. Citizens of Singapore spent $1,348 per capita on bottled water in 2021, Australians $386.
According to previous studies, about 31% of Canadians, 38% of Americans, and 60% of Italians use bottled water as their primary drinking source.
In the Dominican Republic, 60% of households use bottled water as their primary water source, with a strong correlation between income and bottled water consumption.
About 80% of Mexicans use bottled water, and 10% use home-purified water as their primary drinking water source; roughly 90% cite health concerns for doing so
Five companies – PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestlé S.A., Danone S.A, and Primo Corporation have combined sales of $65 billion, over 25% of the global total
Earlier studies of water withdrawals declared in India, Pakistan, Mexico and Nepal showed total estimated withdrawals by Coca-Cola and Nestlé in 2021 at 300 and 100 billion litres, respectively.