To the Editor:
We should support people drinking water, both tap and bottled, because it’s healthier for them and the environment than drinking anything else.
Obesity and related illnesses are soaring. There has been a 370 percent increase in overweight schoolchildren in the last 30 years. More than 20 percent of the calories Americans consume come from beverages.
People want and need bottled water when tap water is not available or not preferred. Seventy-five percent of bottled water drinkers also drink tap.
If they don’t have bottled water, our research shows that half would drink sweetened beverages.
Our bottles use a third less plastic than other beverage containers. At the same time, it is imperative that we all strive to recycle bottles and other packaging. While water bottles alone make up less than 1 percent of the waste stream, at Nestlé Waters, we support improving our recycling laws.
Kim Jeffery
President and Chief Executive
Nestlé Waters North America
Greenwich, Conn., Aug. 1, 2007
As edited by The New York Times
