Plastics bottles

Why can’t water be sold in metal cans or glass bottles with metal crown lids like soft drinks and beer instead of plastic bottles?

It is. It’s called Perrier. :grin:

is it readily available in all major outlets at a lower price than the rest?

No. Why should it be? It’s a premier brand - or so they would have you believe.

so, if its more expensive, it probably won’t be the first choice of the majority of the paying public

Who knows? Except that from the trolleys filled to the brim with cheap plastic water I guess you are right. But always remember the French have no word for cheap - only less expensive - and they refused AZ vaccines because they were “Lidl’s vaccines”. More expensive has prestige here.

We switched to using a Brita filter and stopped buying bottled water. It does a fantastic job the filtered water is excellent, cheaper and limited plastic waste.

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we did too - years ago. Never looked back.

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We too… French tap water is carefully monitored and we have saved significantly on our use of plastic as a result.
We pay ~0.00167€/litre exceedingly good value for money!

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The Brita water also makes fantastic tea.

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I haven’t used the word ‘cheap’.
As for not accepting AZ vaccines, I’ll just put that down to lack of intelligence.
‘More expensive’ doesn’t mean better quality, once again its just lack of intelligence.

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Refusing AZ vaccines is very little to do with intelligence. The panic or doubt was created solely by governments like Macrons saying it could be harmful to certain groups of the population then changing their minds and subsequently dilly dallying about its safety. Boris and co didn’t Fanny around so much hence the AZ being more acceptable to the UK public.

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We are trying a a thick stick of Binotan charcoal in a jug of tap water in the fridge.
“*Les charbons Binchotan sont des bâtonnets de charbon actif utilisés pour améliorer la qualité de l’eau de boisson ou l’eau du thé. Ils sont écologiques car évitent les rejets de bouteilles plastiques dans l’environnement et économiques car un bâtonnet est efficace environ 3 mois.”

That’s really interesting how does it work?

Does Brita or this carbon type remove pesticides?

We just turn on the tap…pop it in a jug in the fridge and tastes fine to us,

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Yes Karen, I thought it was interesting and worth a try.

L’Express says…
Le principe est de laisser le bâtonnet, souvent appel “charbon actif” au minimum 30 minutes dans l’eau pour la “purifier”. Il doit au préalable avoir été bouilli une dizaine de minutes - les sites et revendeurs ne sont pas d’accord sur la durée, allant de 5 à 20 minutes. Il faut compter deux petits morceaux par litre.
Du bois de chêne ubamegashi est séché, puis cuit dans un four en terre. S’ensuit une phase de carbonisation, durant laquelle le bois se consume à 400°C pendant plusieurs jours, pour se transformer en charbon, créant des pores dans l’élément. Et enfin une phase d’activation : la porte du four est ouverte, l’afflux d’oxygène attise la combustion et la température atteint les 1200°C. Cela provoque la libération du goudron contenu dans les pores. Le charbon a alors des capacités d’adsorption - et non d’absorption - c’est-à-dire que, plongé dans un liquide, ce solide poreux retient à sa surface des molécules en suspension.

As for pesticides, I just found this :
“Ce charbon filtrera naturellement votre eau et va retenir les petites molécules qui vont le traverser (tous les métaux lourds, restes de pesticides, chlorine…). Il supprimera ainsi efficacement le goût quelque peu désagréable de votre eau.”

I think activated charcoal is also used in Brita filters, so the stick is pretty much the same thing, but more exotic. It is 2-3 cm thick so quite impressive.

This may all be wishful thinking/codswallop of course ! But I think you’ll find many sites claiming its virtues.

Mine comes direct from the fridge dispenser, chilled and filtered. Makes ice too​:sunglasses::cold_face:

We have atrocious water here and no sign of it being fixed. Stones breaking filters and our well was tested and not drinkable. Was a while back (other half took care of it) and pretty sure pesticides figured too. Hence storing up information on options for when I get another chance to sort it.

Plastic bottles also can leach nasty things into water too. Nothing’s perfect! But I would not swap my life in France and being amongst people here for anything.

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Ours did until a mouse chewed through the plastic tube at the back of the fridge and we had water all over the kitchen floor. When, some time later, we replaced that fridge we decided a water dispenser was an unnecessary luxury. :grin:

amazon sell perrier in plastic bottles as well as cans, and guess what? its CHEAPER!