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Plastic water bottles under attack

 

Those familiar plastic water bottles that every traveler and many locals seems to carry are facing increasing scrutiny over the amount of plastic waste they create, much of which is discarded rather than being recycled.

In Venice, where local authorities say that 40% of the city's waste comes from tourism, a marketing campaign has been launched to encourage visitors, who have now returned to pre-pandemic levels, to take advantage of the city's 126 public drinking water fountains instead of buying plastic bottles.

A local group, Venice Tap Water, has already released a map of the fountains in the city, plus an additional 60 on nearby islands. The group says that there are fountains about every 100 metres in the city.

In the Netherlands, meanwhile, a backlash from consumers has driven one bottled water brand out of the largest Dutch supermarket chain, Albert Heijn. SEA Water, which describes itself as 'planet-saving water' and fills its bottles with desalinated sea water produced by solar power, was attacked as misleading consumers because the bottles are not returnable and are of a plastic that is difficult to recycle. Albert Heijn has dropped the brand, at least for now.

The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

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