A new study conducted by Retail Economics has revealed that the single-use plastic bottled water industry is on track for solid growth, with an additional 280 million branded bottles of water predicted to be sold from 2023 to 2026. This amounts to over 11.2% over the four-year period, despite well-documented environmental concerns.
The report, commissioned by a collective of plastic bottled water campaigners, including BRITA, Refill and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), highlights that tactical advertising and marketing strategies employed by bottled water companies have, and continue to, play a critical role contributing to sales through driving desirability, by emphasising the purity, quality, and refreshing attributes of bottled water.
Despite the UK having some of the best quality drinking water in the world, the report highlights that, thanks to effective marketing strategies, bottled water is the only product people buy that is almost identical to the cheaper (both financially and as cost to the environment) plumbed-in service. As a result, 3.5 billion PET bottles of bottled water are sold annually in the UK, which, laid end to end, would stretch around the world at the equator ten times.
Alongside the total annual bottles sold, the report uncovered that 81 million branded bottles, equivalent to over 221,000 bottles per day, were sold in 2022 as a direct result of advertising and marketing tactics, with the report forecasting that this number will grow to 413 million over the next five years (2022-2026) if changes to advertising regulation are not made.
With the sector set to continue growing, the report outlines that its ecological footprint will face a simultaneous increase. In line with the forecast, the branded bottled water industry carbon emissions are set to increase by an additional 34 billion grams of carbon by 2026 – the equivalent of an extra 20,000 cars on the road.
In addition to the widely documented damage caused by plastic bottles to the environment, the report also identifies transportation and multipack plastic packaging as two of the main factors contributing to unnecessary carbon emissions.
The report found that 90% of bottled water sold in supermarkets, excluding convenience stores, are sold as multi-packs, which currently are wrapped in non-recyclable plastic, a type of packaging that produces significant amounts of plastic pollution.
In addition to this, in the UK, the weight of bottled water and the long road distances it travels from source to shelf constitute a heavy environmental burden – with 440 bn grams of carbon emissions being created by the branded bottled water market alone – the equivalent of 262,000 cars on the road a year.
In an investigation into consumer habits in relation to bottled water, the report determined that, more than half of all bottled water (54%) is consumed either at home or at work, alongside an additional 14% consumed during out-of-home dining or drinking activities. This indicates that, in most cases, approximately two-thirds (68%) of consumption could potentially be fulfilled using tap water or more sustainable drinking solutions, such as water filters.
The report shows that people choose bottled water for convenience and availability, as well as for the taste and quality of the water – with a slight majority favouring availability and convenience (55%) over flavour.
And, with the figures in the report highlighting that the sales of plastic bottled water show no signs of slowing down, despite well-reported links to critical environmental damage, the research identified that a huge proportion of consumers believe that the onus should be on the manufacturers to drive change.
Over three-quarters of consumers (77%) thought that bottled water companies should do more to raise awareness about plastic pollution when advertising, and two-thirds also agree that labelling on bottles should draw attention to the carbon cost of consumption.
Richard Lim, CEO of Retail Economics, commented: “In less than a century between the mid-1970s and 2021, the UK bottled water consumption increased from just one 300ml can per head, to 37 litres per head, in great part thanks to the industry’s efforts to associate the product with desirable and aspirational connotations. It’s clearer than ever that we need to make changes to turn the tide on this issue before it’s too late.
“From labelling products with information around carbon so consumers can make informed decisions, to taxing the additional packaging and restricting promotions, the report outlines clear and decisive actions the government can make in order to make real change.”
In recent years, the UK Government has taken a range of policy measures to address perceived harms associated with specific products and UK policymakers have increasingly ‘nudged’ consumers to take actions deemed beneficial, either for their own well-being or for the greater public interest.
The report outlines a number of proposed recommendations grouped under four broad headings:
- Packaging Restrictions – taxed by the government at 10p per item under the existing Single Use Carrier Bag Charges (England) Order, or its use is banned altogether under the Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) Regulations 2020.
- Labelling Restrictions – carbon labelling should be used to inform consumers about the relative carbon footprint associated with bottled water versus tap water to allow them to make a more informed decision between the two alternatives.
- Promotional Restrictions – the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Competition & Markets Authority undertake an immediate review of the explicit and implicit environmental claims and credentials proffered by bottled water manufacturers.
- Accelerate existing commitments – commitments to help reflect the cost of plastic bottles and packaging in society such as the deposit return and extended producer responsibility schemes have been delayed multiple times. These schemes, while not the solution to the plastic waste problem, should be prioritised to re-balance the environmental costs on the producers and consumers of these products. Co-ordinated public policy action on this topic has also been held back by the lack of progress on the Resources & Waste strategy announced first in 2018.
David Hall, Managing Director UK of BRITA Group, said: “This report highlights more than ever that plastic bottled water has a high hidden cost on society. For too long, the weight of addressing the issue has been on the shoulders of consumers, but we need the government to wake up to the threat the industry poses to our natural world and make the changes it imminently needs.
“Government policies such as the Plastic Packaging Tax, Deposit Return Schemes and Extended Producer Responsibilities are admirable, but they need to be accelerated. We need a world without plastic bottled water, which is why BRITA is calling on the government to take action to stop the unnecessary use of single-use plastic bottles as containers for water to drink.”
NAM Implications:
- Best to promote ‘…the UK having some of the best quality drinking water in the world’
- …Rather than expecting suppliers of bottled water to warn convincingly…
- …re plastic pollution and the carbon cost of consumption.
- Directly or indirectly…
- (Think re turkeys advising re Christmas Dinner!)
- Increased taxation might prove to be the only effective option…
