LETTER

Solving a problem, would politicians act?

 

I often hear that we should stop complaining and come up with solutions. Here is one.

Problem: Nestlé pays $0.00000371 per litre for Canadian water, even less in B.C.  The cost of the bottle varies from $0.02 to $0.04. Selling a 1 litre bottle for $0.75 yields a profit of more than $0.70 per litre!

With these astonishing numbers, shouldn’t we ask why those plastic bottles become our problem, while Nestlé washes their hands of this problem they’ve created. These are the same villains who claim water is not a human right. Translation: we own your country’s water and if you want a drink, you are going to pay our ransom prices!

Solution? The conscientious may return their bottles for $0.05 each but statistics say only 1 in 5 are returned. An obvious solution would be a hefty fee for each refundable bottle, and I mean hefty! $0.50 each might reduce the number of bottles purchased; if purchased, a greater chance of the bottle being recycled rather than ending up in a landfill.

Better solution: We should not be selling our water for such a criminally low price. Consider what a family on municipal water pays for their water in comparison, and it is sickening. Even in times of water shortages, Nestlé continues to remove water from aquifers at alarming rates -- with no concern for their impact. This must come to an end, and soon!

Ron Temchuk
Aylmer