Rena Nickerson
General Manager, SodaStream Canada
When we recognize how much single-use plastic we consume, we wonder if there’s a better way. Choices like using a SodaStream sparkling water maker and avoiding single-use plastic bottles make a real difference.
Every time you buy a bottle of carbonated water at the grocery store or convenience store, you feed a multi-headed hydra of waste and emissions. I know. You just want a drink, and you can’t be held responsible for what was done to get it into your hands. But you can choose to help blaze a better way.
So much of what’s going on with the global climate and waste crisis is out of our control, but any change we hope to see on a global or national scale still has to start with us. One plastic bottle may be a drop in the ocean (and, eventually, a drop in the ocean’s Texas-sized garbage patch), but a lifetime of single-use plastics, each of which takes multiple lifetimes to decompose, is not only a significant contributor but also a barrier to change. By adopting personal lifestyle changes like transitioning our carbonated beverage consumption to SodaStream, we can not only make an immediate impact but also set the stage for more dramatic systemic progress.
Better beverages at home. Sustainable. Convenient.
The first-order benefits of bubbling your own drinks are obvious. “The best way to help the planet is to use less and that’s what we’re trying to do. One SodaStream bottle replaces thousands of single-use plastic bottles,” says Rena Nickerson, General Manager of SodaStream Canada. “The moment of truth happens when you bring your garbage and recycling to the sidewalk. When you look at your trash and recognize how much plastic you’ve consumed, you wonder if there’s a better way. When you make sparkling water at home with SodaStream, you reduce your plastic impact and you can also customize based on your preferences. You can make it as bubbly as you want, you can flavour it however you want, and you never run out.”
But the impacts extend so far beyond our own kitchens and our own recycling bins. It’s not just the plastic itself — it’s the energy that goes into making it, the energy consumed at the bottling plants, and the truly heart-wrenching amount of fossil fuels used in shipping the considerable weight of water across the country or, in the case of some major brands, across the oceans.
SodaStream takes their climate responsibility extremely seriously in every aspect of their operations, but their greatest strength lies in empowering consumers to do the same. “People as individuals make choices on where to spend their money,” says Nickerson. “Corporations bear a lot of responsibility, but we can choose whether to spend money with companies that are doing the right thing for the planet or not. We each have to do our part.”
Your personal consumption matters, as do the companies you choose to do business with. With SodaStream, you can be a part of the better world we’re all trying to build.
