We Want Tap Review

It’s hard to call this a product review as We Want Tap is more of a campaign that does a few products too. The campaign is by Provokateur which also did the ACME Climate Action book so I knew it was going to be a bit different and funky. We Want Tap encourages you to drink tap water as opposed to bottled water. And that’s it really but the way the company is doing it is through taste testing and a lot of promotion - it recently featured on the front cover of Design Week. The campaign even has a Facebook page of its own.

As with ACME, We Want Tap also has a video which explains what it’s all about.

The website has lots of information on there and is a great resource to try and wean people off bottled water. What We Want Tap sent me was the 400ml reusable bottle worth £6 and the DIY Bottle Labelling Kit and stickers worth £4.

Apart from beer, the only other drink I have regularly is tap water. I have to admit to filtering it though as it’s a bit funny where I live now, usually I don’t care and will have it from the tap (if it’s cold). We do recycle the filter cartridges by the way. Anyway the 400ml bottle has already come in useful and I find it much better than using an old plastic bottle when out for the day. I don’t know much about what it’s made of - plastic and metal - but if it cuts down on using bottles then I’m all for it. I like the way the lid is connected to the bottle too.

I was also sent some bottle labels and stickers. You get five labels for smaller bottles and five for bigger ones. The smaller ones also have a few little stickers to put on bottles, fridges and around the place. And they’re incredibly easy to use. Just pull off the old label and wrap around the new one. There’s a handy chart for you to tick off when you’re used the bottle once and after ten times you can recycle it. Soon all those pesky bottles will have been recycled and you can get back to using a reusable bottle. The stickers are printed using vegetable ink, printed on chlorine free 100% recycled paper with a biodegradable laminate and only the sticker backing can’t be recycled.

I heartily recommend checking out We Want Tap and if you need help convincing others about how good tap water is, they have a Tap Challenge on the site which is great.

CamelBak Water Bottle Eco Product Review

CamelBak are the originator and apparently the world leader in hands-free hydration, allowing mountain bikers to drink without taking their hands off the handlebars. Always useful I imagine!

They have just released their new 750ml bottles that are made of a material called Tritan (a copolyester polymer), that is 100% BPA and phthalate free, so there is no-leach or residual taste. BPA is Bisphenol-A, an ingredient used in making polycarbonate and is potentially toxic to human health. For more information, Wikipedia can help you. Anyway, we’re very glad this reusable bottle is BPA free.

They’re available in 0.5 litre, 0.75l and 1.0l versions and I tried a lovely tangerine color one. They’re also available in the green shown here, grey, pink and blue, however more important is how they taste.

Which is fine, I couldn’t taste any plastic. When I first got the bottom it smelt of plastic but that’s because it was wrapped in bubble wrap and has a protective plastic wrapper. However once washed there was no after taste, and all was good. As with these type of bottles there are various optional extras, like sleeves, and different caps.

The bottle is available from a number of retailers just go to CamelBak and search for one near you.