Leading factors: Chez Panisse
January 24, 2008 by Miki Saxon
Image: ian_ransley
Being at the forefront and engaging the minds and hearts of others isn’t limited to people, companies and ideas themselves can lead, whether long-term or in the instance.
Three cheers for Alice Waters and her restaurant Chez Panisse.
The leader in all things sustainable, organic and environmental has stopped selling bottled water.
It’s about time a high profile business took the lead on this.
The restaurant used to sell about 25,000 bottles a year. Now Chez Panisse filters and serves tap, flat or carbonated, in a glass carafe for free.
Alice Waters isn’t the only one, but she carries a lot of weight among foodies and water buyers
A New York Times editorial last August contributed to objections. San Francisco in July banned spending of public funds on the product, and New York City is encouraging people to refill containers. Chicago this month imposed a 5-cents-a- bottle tax. Many restaurants in the U.S. still serve tap to guests, which is unusual in Europe.
I’ve never been a bottled water person, especially considering how much of it is plain old tap water.
Nestle, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola control 60 percent of the U.S. bottled water market, and use municipal supplies for three of the four biggest brands, Aquafina, Dasani and the Swiss company’s Pure Life.
So take a hint from Alice Waters, who’s forgotten more about food and drink than most of us will ever know and switch to a refillable container filter your own water.
Stay healthy!
Check the number in the triangle on the bottom of water bottles and
all plastic containers.
Keep if the number is 1 or 7 and
send numbers 2, 4 and 5 to recycle heaven.
Your comments—priceless
Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL
This is a really big deal and I wish that more Philadelphia restauranteurs would listen up (we actually have a restaurant – Water Works – that only serves bottled water).
In Philly, we’re the 5th largest metro market and we do not have a plastics recycling program. So it’s not simply a matter of tossing the used bottles into a recycling bin – you can’t.
It takes guts to stand up to the norm. I’m glad to hear that it’s still happening.
Waters has been standing up for years. She’s one of the major powers behind food attitudes such as fresh, organic, local and sustainable.
Perhaps it would be worth printing out a copy of the newspaper article and leaving it with the owners of the restaurants you frequent. Heheh, you could also bring your own water in one of the cool new containers.
The sooner bottled water stops being cool the sooner people will stop buying it.
I am afraid I only partially agree.
I agree with not serving purified bottled water. I disagree about not serving mineral water. The latter have distinct flavors and textures and banning these is about the same as saying you will serve only cheap wine because it comes in larger, less polluting containers.
Miki- I like this especially for restaurants- I always drink tap water in restaurants. I don’t like the forced recycling “tax” mainly because the government is involved and they usually mismanage such programs spending more money managing them than savings through environmental benefits. I recycle my plastic bottles mainly because I like the money but also feel it is my responsibility. I wonder what the stats are on recycling and if anything has changed due to charging up front recycling fees.
Denis, I grant your point, but I’m guessing that the mineral waters to which you refer make up a very small percentage of the total sold. I think we would be in great shape if the only water sold was mineral water and the rest were eliminated.
I read a long time ago that recycling went way up when the deposit was added. I live where there is no deposit and the recycling rate is terrible. I cringe when I see people’s trash full of cardboard, cans, bottles, etc. They just can’t be bothered. I suppose some people see it as a tax, in my mind it’s just an incentive to get people to do what they should do anyway.