Compostable water bottles!

Been doing lots of reading about plastic water bottles and other options...

PET plastic is a petroleum product.

NZ statistics: (http://www.packagingaccord.org.nz/PlasticsSectorPlasticsNewZealand.php)
In 2004 28,000 tonnes of plastic packaging was recycled (20% of the plastic packaging consumed in New Zealand), making PET recycling approximately 30% of the total recycled material.

U.S. statistics: http://www.container-recycling.org/
In the U.S., because it is presently recycled at such low rates, tens of billions of new plastic bottles must be manufactured each year from virgin materials—fossil fuels—to replace those bottles that were not recycled. The Container Recycling Institute estimates that approximately 18 million barrels of crude oil equivalent were consumed in 2005 to replace the 2 million tons of PET bottles that were wasted instead of recycled.

The good news is that degradable and bio-based plastics are increasingly entering the market. Bio-based plastics are projected to increase to 10% of the world supply of plastic by 2020.
(http://www.packagingaccord.org.nz/PlasticsSectorPlasticsNewZealand.php)

However, there are risks of contaminating recycling schemes because we don't have infrared recycling technology in NZ.

An example of bio products available are potato-starch plates (NZ) and corn-based PLA compostable water bottles - BIOTA (only available in the U.S.)

BIOTA is sold at select natural foods and gourmet supermarkets throughout the United States. Eventually, consumers across the United States will be able to purchase BIOTA from stores.