Cap & Trade & Water Bottles

Industrial designers should step in and offer their expertise on solving problems like these. These issues are nothing new and not surprising considering the society we live in today. If it turns a profit then I’m not surprised it happened. Awareness is a big issue with these videos, they are very succinct and easy to follow but how many people are actually going to view these videos? The facts in these videos need to be known by everyone just as everyone knows that plastic bags are bad for the environment. Industrial designers along with other specialists can work up a campaign to share this knowledge with the world. Industrial designers should already be concerned with recycling and the effects of their products on the environment but these videos should encourage them to think harder. Different manufacturing plants could be used, ones with greener energy. A question that always needs to be asked before a product is made is: does this product deserve to exist? If it doesn’t then industrial designers should think more seriously about not creating that product. If water bottles are such a huge problem then industrial designers should get on this problem and really think it through. A consumer can buy as many eco-friendly reusable water bottles as they like at the store but how do you get them to use them all the time? How do you make reusable water bottles the norm for everyone and eliminate plastic water bottle waste? I use reusable water bottles at home, I bought a pack of 7 so one for each day of the week, but I often don’t have time to refill them and refrigerate them. If I want a cold bottle of water when I’m out and I don’t have my reusable bottles then I’m going to buy one. What needs to be implemented so that I would carry an empty bottle around? Cold water fountains in more locations? A refill service at stores? Bottled water companies could move into providing refill services of their “special” bottled water. You would go to the store with your bottle and refill it at a cooler. If water bottles were eliminated completely from the market and every retailer that sold water bottles started to use the refill system then people would adjust and always bring their own water bottles with them.