Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 16 Jun 08;
A campaign aimed at persuading consumers to reject bottled water in favour of tap water has been launched.
Despite having some of the highest quality tap water in the world, Britain still spends £1.5bn per year on designer label water.
The Tap campaign aims to break the habit by demonstrating that tap water is just as beneficial and tastes as good - if not better than - bottled.
It is taking on the big companies such as Evian, Highland Spring and Volvic with DIY Bottled Water.
Tap hopes to persuade people to hang on to their empty plastic bottle of water, rebrand it with a self-adhesive Tap label and then refill it at the kitchen or office sink. It wants the bottled reused in this way 10 times before it is recycled.
Later this year Tap, which describes itself as an ethical enterprise and a consumer campaign, will be issuing its own bottles for people to use.
It says 70 per cent of the money raised from bottles, labels and a Tap Challenge Pack - aimed at setting up blind tastings to prove tap water is as good as the more expensive alternatives - will be donated to help fund water projects in poorer countries.
Tap founder Joshua Blackburn said: "The bottled water industry is the triumph of marketing over common sense, it has become a symbol of our disposable culture at its dumbest.
"In countries such as Britain, where high quality water is literally on tap, it's time to bin the bottle. Most people don't even realise that until recently, bottled water was more expensive than petrol."
By persuading consumers to reject their bottle-buying habit they will be helping the environment and at the same time will act as a consumer champion by bringing about even higher quality tap water.
The DIY Bottled Water pack, containing five large bottle labels for litre -sized bottles, and five small labels for 400ml-sized bottles together with 20 tap water campaign stickers, will cost £6.
Tap's own reusable bottles will cost £8.50p for the larger size and £6 for the smaller bottle. All the Tap products are guaranteed to be carbon neutral.
Details of the products can be found at www.wewanttap.com.
