About James Head

About James Head
James Head was born and educated in the UK; and has an honours degree in education from Exeter University. For many years he has been a committed philosopher, and his life now revolves around sharing 'real' Greek philosophy with others. He regularly speaks and writes on the essential ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. James has lived in Greece for many years, in both Athens and Ancient Delphi where he feels 'philosophically at home’. These days he divides his time between Delphi, London and Athens.

Philosophy Walks and Talks in Athens

Philosophy Talks and Walks in Athens, Delphi, London for the last 12 years, and now “online”.

See meetup.com group for bigger audience talks; and James’ Philosophy Talks and Walks for talks for smaller groups and individuals.

Welcome to James' Philosophical Agora - James' Meeting Place On-Line. Blog posts on various subjects follow below. (Scroll down to bottom for links / lables and more.)

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

ENVIRONMENT – ‘Having the Option’ - to Refill Plastic Water Bottles


About Having The Option to Refill Plastic Water Bottles for say 30 cents - rather than always needing to buy a new one for 60 cents....

(An ongoing 'practical philosophy' project.)


As a regular walker and ‘litter picker’ I am constantly collecting plastic water bottles from along the paths of the beautiful locations where I walk. I know people talk about re-cycling and putting stuff in the right box for the garbage man – but surely the problem is we are using far too many plastic bottles and other packaging to start with. The hot Mediterranean countries alone must use tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of these little plastic drinking bottles each year. Globally the number must be mind boggling



I just want people to be at least ‘have the option’ to take their empty bottles into a supermarket, local newsagent, or fast food outlet and be able to get a refill for their plastic bottles if they wish - at a lower price than if they buy their water in a new plastic bottle. Clearly, some kind of vending machine or office water cooler perhaps with re-usable bigger containers - could easily be adapted to make this possible and indeed some water vending machines already exist - and are readily available at modest cost. (Could not the bigger containers could simply be collected and re-used in a similar way to beer barrels?)
Bottled water is big business for companies like Evian, but with water vending machines they could still make a profit – and be brought onside to support the idea of saving on disposable plastic. Indeed, with the growing public opposition to using disposable plastics, and creeping legislation, their successful business model to date may not tenable 10 to 15 years from now. The water companies therefore might be persuaded to help reduce the number of one-use bottles – rather than being the main cause of the problem as they are at the moment. They could be interested in suggestions for adapting their business model sooner rather than later. Certainly, the big water bottle companies have the right people, the right teams in place with the right skills, and the right distribution networks to get the job done; that is to encourage people to refill their water bottles rather than 'automatically' buy water in a new plastic bottle. Giving people the choice on how they buy their water is an important first step in my view.

So how can we encourage the refilling of water bottles among the thirsty public; and encourage big corporate bottled water companies to offer refill vending as ‘an option’?  


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