Hello everyone,
Does anyone have experience with soda faucets in the kitchen? I mean faucets where you can carbonate the tap water directly. How much does such a system cost? Or is it just a very expensive gadget? Water carbonators are quite affordable. Thank you very much
Does anyone have experience with soda faucets in the kitchen? I mean faucets where you can carbonate the tap water directly. How much does such a system cost? Or is it just a very expensive gadget? Water carbonators are quite affordable. Thank you very much
G
garfunkel8 Aug 2016 21:18I don’t believe that, otherwise you wouldn’t make any money.
I would only buy or use the one with a glass bottle. All that plastic stuff really gets on my nerves.
I also think most people buy a Sodastream or similar devices not because it’s cheaper, but because it offers more convenience. Carrying heavy crates all the time, especially if there are two or more people in the household, adds up quickly. You can easily avoid that with the device.
You should try shopping for a week only at the butcher, deli counter, bakery, and similar places. It’s incredible how much plastic waste is generated. It’s hard to truly imagine.
I would only buy or use the one with a glass bottle. All that plastic stuff really gets on my nerves.
I also think most people buy a Sodastream or similar devices not because it’s cheaper, but because it offers more convenience. Carrying heavy crates all the time, especially if there are two or more people in the household, adds up quickly. You can easily avoid that with the device.
You should try shopping for a week only at the butcher, deli counter, bakery, and similar places. It’s incredible how much plastic waste is generated. It’s hard to truly imagine.
garfunkel schrieb:
You should try shopping for just one week only at the butcher, deli counter, bakery, and similar places. It’s amazing how much plastic waste is generated.
It’s hard to really imagine.What worries me is the pollution caused by plastic waste in the oceans.
It’s getting out of control.
Hannes Jaenicke is actively fighting against this, which I really appreciate. He argues very well and with passion on the subject.
I used to not think much about these things. Only since early 2016 have we consistently brought reusable bags or crates when shopping. Sometimes a shopping trolley too. OK: The reusable bags cost 2 or 3 euros each. We have 10 of them (and none are broken yet), which are redistributed to the cars after shopping. Now we always pack at the car. Small adjustment – works without problems.
It’s a bit off-topic, but I’m convinced we can’t continue with plastic like this. Otherwise, we risk ending up in a situation like with CFCs and the ozone hole.
Especially the many PET bottles: these are not truly reusable. They are single-use disguised as reusable. Shredded, much of it burned, the rest turned into plastic toys, transported 40,000 km (25,000 miles) by ship. I don’t understand how this is allowed. Most beverages today come in TP or PET. TP is a composite material that can’t be separated and essentially can only be burned. Good material goes to waste. But we consumers pay for it – 10-15% of the “beverage” price is just the packaging, which is not cheap. No wonder – by now, it’s almost a high-tech product, technically almost perfect. Ecologically? I’m not sure….
No: I’m not an environmental fanatic. Definitely not. I don’t want my chips and gummy bears in jute bags or butter wrapped in linen cloths. But even so, I’ve really started to think about these topics.
I have no solutions… I can only make minimal contributions myself. The issue is highly complex, especially plastic in the oceans.
The fact is: we need new types of packaging materials that are more environmentally friendly.
Other than some initial approaches, there is nothing available yet. There is huge potential here.
The upcoming plastic bag ban is a start, and not a bad one. It will bring some momentum to the issue.
Best regards
Thorsten
You have a valid point with your arguments. Too few people really pay attention to this. I sometimes notice this myself, even though I try to be more conscious about certain things. In other cases, not so much. Our water is quite hard, and I don’t really want to put it into the SodaStream to have to descale it constantly. If in the future, after moving, I decide to get a water softening system and use a SodaStream, I wouldn’t know whether to choose plastic or glass bottles. Of course, glass bottles look nicer when serving guests at the table. But by now, plastic bottles have become very common. Also, I wouldn’t take a glass bottle with me to work. I can just toss a plastic bottle into my backpack without worrying much. That’s also a kind of convenience—and obviously much better than single-use bottles.
You don’t need to descale the soda steam device, but probably the soda tap. As I mentioned, I’ve had mine for about 20 years, and we have VERY hard water.
Otherwise, I can only agree with Thorsten’s off-topic post; I feel the same way. What annoys me more and more lately is that even loose vegetables are increasingly being shrink-wrapped. Why, please? I wash my vegetables at home, so I don’t need them wrapped in plastic (which can sometimes release harmful substances into the produce). And why do I now always have to wear a plastic glove when putting vegetables into my bag? Also new and, in my opinion, completely pointless (I might understand it at the self-service bakery, where you can’t wash the bread). Meat is no longer sold at the counter but prepackaged (unfortunately, the butcher I trust usually isn’t open during my working hours), and so on.
Otherwise, I can only agree with Thorsten’s off-topic post; I feel the same way. What annoys me more and more lately is that even loose vegetables are increasingly being shrink-wrapped. Why, please? I wash my vegetables at home, so I don’t need them wrapped in plastic (which can sometimes release harmful substances into the produce). And why do I now always have to wear a plastic glove when putting vegetables into my bag? Also new and, in my opinion, completely pointless (I might understand it at the self-service bakery, where you can’t wash the bread). Meat is no longer sold at the counter but prepackaged (unfortunately, the butcher I trust usually isn’t open during my working hours), and so on.
Regarding PET and reusable bottles: there is also the fact that cleaning and refurbishing glass reusable bottles consumes so much energy (often from oil or coal here) that, from an ecological perspective, it can actually be more sensible to use a single-use PET bottle, which only weighs a few grams. Not to mention the significantly higher transport costs of glass, there and back. This also uses a lot of oil.
from on the road
from on the road
Hi Saruss,
You are right.
The proportion of the drink’s weight in reusable glass packaging is—based on my knowledge—only about 40-50%. Transport and cleaning consume energy. At the end of its service life, the glass must be melted down or recycled.
When we discussed PET in this off-topic thread, at least I always referred to single-use PET bottles—the type that is shredded after one use. I don’t think that is very optimal. Reusable PET bottles do exist (though rarely), and they certainly have a better overall environmental impact.
PET also has the downside of not being completely food-safe… Well, it has some advantages too.
Most likely, however, the share of PE and PP is much larger, and more of those plastics end up in waterways and elsewhere.
Whatever the case, we won’t solve this problem quickly.
To come back to soda makers (general water carbonators—there are other brands, too): almost no transport is involved for the beverage itself, and both glass and PET containers are reused frequently. Personally, I find this a very environmentally friendly method, at least for making sparkling water and some soft drinks. I would voluntarily give up beer from such machines immediately, though.
And if I don’t need 5 plastic bags per week anymore that end up in the trash after 1-2 uses: that’s a small contribution to the environment but still a contribution. Hypothetically calculated over 30 million households and 52 weeks per year, that’s about 4.5 billion bags. One bag weighs on average 20 grams (0.7 ounces), so that’s 90,000 tons (99,000 US tons) less plastic. That equals 4,000 truckloads (about 23 tons or 25 US tons per load on a 40-ton truck).
Even “small stuff” adds up to a big mess overall.
Best regards
Thorsten
You are right.
The proportion of the drink’s weight in reusable glass packaging is—based on my knowledge—only about 40-50%. Transport and cleaning consume energy. At the end of its service life, the glass must be melted down or recycled.
When we discussed PET in this off-topic thread, at least I always referred to single-use PET bottles—the type that is shredded after one use. I don’t think that is very optimal. Reusable PET bottles do exist (though rarely), and they certainly have a better overall environmental impact.
PET also has the downside of not being completely food-safe… Well, it has some advantages too.
Most likely, however, the share of PE and PP is much larger, and more of those plastics end up in waterways and elsewhere.
Whatever the case, we won’t solve this problem quickly.
To come back to soda makers (general water carbonators—there are other brands, too): almost no transport is involved for the beverage itself, and both glass and PET containers are reused frequently. Personally, I find this a very environmentally friendly method, at least for making sparkling water and some soft drinks. I would voluntarily give up beer from such machines immediately, though.
And if I don’t need 5 plastic bags per week anymore that end up in the trash after 1-2 uses: that’s a small contribution to the environment but still a contribution. Hypothetically calculated over 30 million households and 52 weeks per year, that’s about 4.5 billion bags. One bag weighs on average 20 grams (0.7 ounces), so that’s 90,000 tons (99,000 US tons) less plastic. That equals 4,000 truckloads (about 23 tons or 25 US tons per load on a 40-ton truck).
Even “small stuff” adds up to a big mess overall.
Best regards
Thorsten