Campaigners calling for restrictions on bottled water advertising

Environment campaigner are calling for restrictions to be put on bottled water advertising and a 10p tax should be added to shrink-wrapped packs to curb the UK’s 10m bottle-a-day habit.

Accroding to a new report by the consultancy Retail Economics, water brands are forecast to chalk up growth of more than 10 per cent over the next four years, equivalent to an extra 280m bottles, despite the supposed plastics backlash.

The report, commissioned by campaigners – including the groups Refill and Whale and Dolphin Conservation as well as the filter firm Brita – argued that brand advertising played a “critical” role in burnishing the “desirability” of bottled water.

The creation of dedicated brands has seen bottled water consumption in the UK increase from just one 300ml can per head in the mid-1970s to 37 litres a head in 2021, according to Retail Economics’ chief executive, Richard Lim.

Britons spent £1.6bn on branded and supermarket own-label bottled water in 2021. This used about 3.5bn bottles, or 10m a day, Lim estimates. Brands are the driving force behind the industry’s growth, accounting for £1bn of sales and 2.5bn bottles. Buoyed up by advertising, this footprint could be 2.8bn bottles by 2026, Lim said.

“We need to make changes to turn the tide on this issue before it’s too late,” said Lim of the white paper, which recommends restricting advertising and promotions and putting environmental labels on bottles.

While carrying a reusable water bottle has become the norm for many people, the study found that just over half of the UK population, or 51 per cent, drink bottled water once a week or more. The frequency was highest among millennials, at 61 per cent, based on a sample of more than 2,000 households.

“Plastic bottled water is a scar on our society,” said David Hall, the UK managing director of Brita. “Plastic bottled water takes about five seconds to make, five minutes to use, and a staggering 500 years to break down in landfill. It’s one of the main culprits of the worldwide plastic pollution crisis.”

The study also found that 90 per cent of bottled water on a typical supermarket shelf was still encased in a wrapper. This plastic-on-top-of-plastic accounts for 1m pieces of wrap every day.

The report suggested that the Advertising Standards Authority and Competition and Markets Authority should review the environmental claims and credentials of bottled water manufacturers. The authors recommended that the government should treat bottled water in the same way as it does foods sold in England that are high in fat, salt or sugar, removing them from prominent positioning in shops.

A spokesperson for Danone UK & Ireland said its Evian and Volvic brands “enable consumers to make healthier hydration choices they can enjoy conveniently” and that in the UK and Ireland it had committed to using 100 per cent recycled plastic in its bottles by 2025.

“Increasing recycling rates also have a role to play, and a unified, consistent deposit return scheme is vital to this. Any restrictions on advertising for the category would risk inadvertently driving consumers towards less healthy beverage options,” The Guardian quoted the spokesperson as saying.