NESTLE WATER SCANDAL
Bottled water began in Europe in the 1970s as a symbol of status and health. After the industrial revolution, tap water gained its reputation for being unsafe for consumption. Since it gained rapid success in the late 90s, it has become a household good and is the fastest-selling non-alcoholic beverage to this day worldwide. The average American goes through over 10 bottles of water every month. That makes an average of over 50 billion bottles purchased annually in just the U.S. alone. Not many, however, give much consideration to where this water is being sourced from.
Marketers and advertisers began promoting bottled water as a symbol of status and health. Multinational companies began extracting water from aquifers and springs and selling it at a competitive price. Aside from the damage plastic pollution has caused to the environment which is very widely talked about, another major destructive impact that bottled water has caused is the damage to the communities in which that water is
being sourced from.
Nestlé Waters is the world's leading producer of bottled water, with nearly 110 production plants in 33 countries providing sales and distribution to more than 130 countries. Nestle is the world's largest food and drink corporation, established in 1886 when Henri Nestle developed a groundbreaking baby food formula. It later merged with an Anglo-Swiss condensed milk business to form the Nestle Group.
Nestle has been pumping out 200 gallons of freshwater out of Michigan, which the people of Flint desperately need. The Flint Michigan crisis has killed many people and hospitalized over 87, and children are losing their hair, developing skin lesions, and going blind just from bathing. Despite this, Nestle continued sourcing out their water for pennies and benefiting from billions in profit from other states and even countries.
Nestle has been making a profit by selling their water to third-world countries for astronomical prices. They persuaded the World’s Water Council to change drinking
water to a need rather than a right, allowing them to sell it for as much as they want and make an enormous profit.
Local environmentalists are fighting against the extraction of water from the San Bernardino Mountains in California, where water seeps from the ground and flows through a system of tunnels and boreholes to a tank where it is bottled and sold as Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water. They hope California regulators will order BlueTriton Brands to drastically reduce its operation in the national forest, since it’s removing precious water that would otherwise flow in Strawberry Creek and nourish the ecosystem.
Bottling protestors hiked to sites where water is collected to explain the concerns that they have. They argue that more water flowing freely downstream would provide a healthier habitat for wildlife, reduce wildfire risk, and help replenish groundwater in the San Bernardino Valley.
Sources:
https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/
https://ivypanda.com/essays/ethics-of-bottled-water/
https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/47/Nestl-Waters.html
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2022-01-20/environmentalists-fight-to-shut-d own-bottled-water-operation
https://oursantaferiver.org/nestle-the-worlds-most-corrupt-corporation/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-21/nestl-makes-billions-bottling-wat er-it-pays-nearly-nothing-for#xj4y7vzkg
https://couragecalifornia.org/stop-nestle-and-bluetriton-california-water/ https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/12/nestle_water_michigan_backstor.htm
The fact that the nestle company is taking water from the environment and society makes it a very non-trustworthy company. In a way it seems as though the company is focused more on its profits compared to the health of their customers/consumers.The company I would say is based more on the utilitarian framework of buisness.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it definitely seems as though they are prioritizing profit. I genuinely stopped buying Nestle water after completing this case.
DeleteThis business has to be based on a Utilitarian business framework.This strategy's tendency to prioritize short-term gains over long-term benefits is one of its main drawbacks. Businesses may, as a result, make decisions that are not in the best interests of their customers, such as reducing customer service, cutting corners on quality, or employing deceptive marketing strategies.in this case nestle is stealing water from the environment of its consumers.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Nestle doesn't really have a clean portfolio.
DeleteI really appreciate the factual number you give on the numbers on water bottles just the US goes through a year as well as some of the background on Nestle's operations. I have heard many mixed opinions on water bottle producers and the ethics behind them. I feel like more people associate water bottles as a "good thing" but really don't know or see all the controversial things that go into producing them.
ReplyDeleteAdding to this, as a Packaging Engineer I'm very familiar with the package pollution caused by water bottles. They cause millions of tons of CO2 emissions annually and kills hundreds of thousands of marine life.
DeleteSelling bottled water has always baffled me. I always felt it should be offered freely. I know in some European cities they have many public fountains that anyone can get water at for free. Any many times bottled water has been found to be no better than tap water. Always seemed like the water business was a racket. Nestle also missed on a great opportunity to give back. They could have taken the Flint water, filtered and cleaned it, then given it BACK to the people of Flint for their use. Imagine the good PR that could have brought them.
ReplyDeleteAbove comment was by me. I forgot to change it from Anonymous.
DeleteThis a really good idea! Public fountains are much more ethical as well!
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