TEAM BOTTLED WATER

Joshua Curry Melia Ungson

Yale College, EVST 346 Urbanization and the Environment in China and India Professors: Karen Seto and Angel Hsu

PLASTIC CONSUMPTION AND WASTE ECOSYSTEMS IN CHINA AND INDIA

In the United States, bottled water is ubiquitous. It is sold in every convenience store and vending machine; it is consumed by students and professors, and everyone in between; and used plastic bottles can be found in every dumpster, recycling bin, and landfill. Yet, as global consumption continues to increase, bottled water has met significant environmental criticism on a range of issues, including safety, high embodied energy content, and waste. With these issues in mind, we set out to explore the lifecycle of bottled water in the context of rapidly urbanizing regions. What can bottled water tell us about urbanization in China and India? Why do people choose to consume bottled water? How do companies market themselves to the urban consumer? And how have urban areas adapted to manage plastic waste? The answers to these questions tell a fascinating story of urbanization and the environment in China and India: The way in which bottled water is marketed and sold lends insight to the environmental inclinations and public health concerns of consumers; consumption indicates changing urban lifestyles; and waste management practices reflect the efficacy of governance as well as the rampant socio-environmental inequity characteristic of urbanized regions.

Background

e set out to study the lifecycle of bottled water in an effort to examine how the private sector provides potable water in areas where water quality and quantity are major concerns. We intended to explore the entire lifecycle of bottled water--sourcing and bottling, use, and disposal--and were particularly interested in how consumers view and use bottled water and the challenges and benefits associated with its use. While the full life cycle proved of significant value in our analysis, we realized on the ground that the final stage, disposal, was of extreme interest. In each region we visited, and sometimes even within the same city, the system for waste disposal and recycling varied. Waste management in China and India were starkly contrasting, and even the rural village of Lianshan presented an important case.

Because urbanization has a other concern, contributing to a case major impact on lifestyle changes, of- for greater recycling and reuse. How ten being associated with spending urbanized regions in India and China more time away from home, enjoying consume plastic and manage waste, reincreased income, and placing a higher cycling, and reuse has major implicaprice on time, packaged goods, like bottled water, are becoming more affordable and more convenient. It is critical to understand how this will affect waste management in urban areas. Delhi has started literally running out of a place to put all of the waste that is generated. Efficient allocation Team Bottled Water posing with a public waste bin of resources and featuring both recycling and general waste compartments in energy is an- the Shenzhen Central Business District.

tions for the environment. In our analysis, we use bottled water consumption as a proxy for the lifestyle changes, increased value of time and convenience, and rising incomes associated with urbanization. We use waste management as a vehicle for examining how formal government systems, private entities, individuals, and the informal sector respond to the challenges and opportunities associated with bottled water use and plastic waste.

Methods

he data presented was gathered during two weeks in the field in China and India through on-the-ground observations and interviews.

Results and Analysis

MARKETING AND SALE ottled water is marketed to appeal to consumers. As such, the way in which a bottle is branded and sold lends deep insight into the target market. While there are a number of similarities and differences in the marketing and sale of bottled water in China and India, there are two key points to highlight: First, in both China and India, companies market bottled water as an environmentally pure good. Ads and labels display images of mountains and limpid rivers, emphasize the purity of the source, and are punctuated by claims of being natural. The use of environmental imagery and rhetoric indicates bottled waters position in the consumer beverage market: It is the pure choice. Paradoxically, this marketing strategy implies a consumer who desires to live naturally and leverages this environmental inclination to sell a product that when compared to alternative water sources on a number of metrics is environmentally harmful. Interestingly, bottled water companies do not include any of the attributes that make bottled water desirable to customers most notably, its

convenience and mobility a. as a source of drinking water in their marketing campaigns, suggesting that the urban consumer does not need to be sold on the concept of bottled water itself, but rather the attributes of an individual brand. Second, the way in which bottled water is sold in each country produces very different types of brand developb. ment as necessitated by the consumption landscape. In India, the major companies Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Indianbased Bisleri heavily promote the large brand name, and oversee more of the transport, marketing, and sales process. This is likely done to boost consumer confidence in a market that may sometimes be quesc. tioned for illicit resale. In China, brand is developed over time, with early market penetration being the strongest predictor of market share. Brands, however, seem to dictate little in China in terms of how bottled water is sold, as a single store may carry a number of different brands without signaling a strong distinction between them. A notable excepa. A licensed street vendor in New Delhi stands tion to this lack of distinc- next to his Pepsi brand stand; b. Undifferentiated tion is the mode of sale in bottles sold in a local shop in Guangzhou; c. Brand western-style stores, such differentiated coolers in a Walmart in Shenzhen as 7-Eleven and Walmart, in which displays were, in fact, neatly will become increasingly more rigid. organized by brands, indicating a more formal, top-down, product delivery CONSUMPTION infrastructure. As large, western-style ottled water consumption in convenience stores and super-markets China and India reflects a new continue to grow their presence in Chiurban lifestyle. Beneath this trend, na, it is likely that brand differentiation

A New Delhi man waits at a bus rapid transit stop with a bottle of Kinley (CocaCola) brand water. Bottled water is an artifact of the increasingly mobile lifestyle that characterizes urbanization.

bottled water consumption in China and India is driven by a combination of a lack of potable water availability, convenience, and increasing income. In particular, urbanization has, in some cases, outpaced the infrastructure of potable water provision, particularly when away from home or on-the-go. As people adjust to urban lifestyles, more time is spent away from home and the pressure to use time efficiently makes convenience a key determinant of behavior. Bottled water in China and India, while far cheaper than in the US, is still one of the more expensive sources of potable water. This means that not everyone can consistently purchase it, but as peoples incomes rise, consumption may become more widespread. Notably and as evidence to the use of bottled water almost exclusively as an on-the-go product locations within urban areas, such as schools and offices, that provide alternate sources of potable water are characterized by very little bottled water consumption.

DISPOSAL, WASTE AND RECYCLING he changes in urban consumption patterns are coupled with commiserate changes in the rate and type of urban waste. Dramatic increase in the rate of waste production in urban areas is detrimental to both the environment, as toxic chemicals from waste find their way into groundwater or the atmosphere, and to those people who live near waste sights. Specifically, the increase in consumption of disposable plastic goods, including plastic bottles, bags, and packaging, has burdened urban areas with a waste problem different in nature than any it has faced in the past. Plastic waste is persistent it does not break down naturally in a useful time frame and, so, cannot be treated in the same way as non-plastic trash with the same results. At the same time, plastic waste offers the option of recycling if properly separated. An effective waste management system necessitates participation on all levels, from the top-down and

from the bottom-up. As such, governance, infrastructure, education, cultural attitudes toward waste, community organizing, and the private sector are all important to waste management. In China and India, the treatment of plastic waste manifests the way in which government, people, and the private sector adapt to the rapid changes in lifestyle and the environment characteristic of urbanization in these countries. For the public sector, plastic waste management presents an enormous challenge and, as such, the efficacy of waste management policies is a strong indicator the organizational efficacy of a government. Further, plastic waste management practices, as they affect an urbanized population, may be used as an indicator for the socio-environmental equity of an urbanized region. Lastly, the private/informal sectors ability to establish recycling infrastructure in response to plastic waste can be used as an indicator for the strength of public private partnerships in urbanized regions. While the marketing, sale, and

a.

b.

d. c.

a. In Shenzhen, a municipal trash collector inspects a trash bin for proper separation. Municipal workers in China could be seen on every street armed with trash bags, brooms and dustpans; b. A bilboard in Delhi advertising the activities of the municipal Delhi Wast Management is surrounded by trash that covers the street. While this trash has been collected here for pick-up, Delhi streets are generally very dirty; c. In a neighborhood in the heart of Shenzhen, a woman sorts plastic bags for recycling; d. Plastic bottles are sorted into large burlap sacks for recycling. Waste sorting activities in New Delhi were pushed outside of the city into slums located near landfills.

consumption of bottled water in China and India are fairly similar, the waste management landscapes in the countries are drastically different. Still, these differences are tied together by a some common threads: 1. Governance matters. The role of government in keeping the streets clean, ensuring proper waste segre-

gation, developing recycling infrastructure, and educating the public is the most important aspect of an effective waste management system. 2. While government has a major role in waste management, bottomup solutions and informal activity are also important in both China and India.

3. No matter what programs are devised, a challenge that remains is behavior and resistance to change, particularly when change means complicating disposal (sorting at point of disposal). One element that contributes to behavior is awareness and understanding, so teaching proper waste disposal and the im-

portance of recycling is often seen an important step. 4. The infrastructure, human capital, and systems present in urban areas even those not specifically designed for waste management make cities poised to address waste and implement recycling programs in a way that rural areas may be unable to, even as similar waste issues are developing.

recycling facilities outside of the city. However, items like plastic bags, copper wire, and Styrofoam are left to the informal sector. Government policies are such that they allow for this activity, even facilitating agglomeration and the connection to buyers and sellers. These activities are critical in removing a large quantity of disposed items from the general waste stream.

activities, and has created policy that has undermined the critical function these communities perform.

WASTE IN CHINA fficial policies to drive waste classification are still relatively new in China. Shenzhen and Guangzhou both introduced programs to test systems of waste separation in the fall of 2012. One of the major challenges associated with waste management in China is a lack of awareness. For example, the mayor of Guangzhou has made recycling one of his top issues, which is evident by the number of recycling bins on the street and the number of signs explaining how to dispose of different types of items. Yet, many students either did not know what recycling was or did not see value in separating waste into trash and recycling because they did not believe that the contents of the two bins would remain separate later on in the process. Nonetheless, city streets are remarkably free of trash compared to other cities in the US or around the globe. One reason is that the government has invested heavily in trash and recycling bins. There is also a sense of constant vigilance, as the government has employed an army of municipal workers charged with keeping the city clean. These municipal workers, along with a number of more informal wastepickers or privately-employed workers, pick up litter from the street, re-sort improperly sorted recycling and waste in the bins, and even remove valuable goods, like plastic bottles, in order to sell them for recycling. There are also informal collecting and sorting activities. For plastic bottles, the quantity and value is such that the government has invested in

WASTE IN INDIA

Conclusions and Recommendations

elhi generates over 7,000 metric tonnes of waste every day, but the citys landfills are almost exhausted and opening new sites is not promising. Officials have tried to propose solutions that would open waste-to-energy plants or attempt to limit the amount of waste produced, but the real, more challenging issue is a resistance to segregation of waste at source. According to the Times of India, the separate blue and green binsone for waste and the other for compostwere introduced in 2009, but have been treated as ordinary bins. Waste segregation at the household level has produced similarly uninspiring results, sometimes due to the failure of waste collectors to dump waste and recycling separately. However, segregation of waste offers one of the only ways for Delhi to sustainably manage waste given the limited space available for landfill. In addition to the lack of space for landfills and the resistance to separation of waste at the source, Delhi has the challenge of widespread litter on the street. Partially this may be due to a lack of proper trash bins, but education, maintenance and cleaning resources, and behavior change all have a role. In terms of informal activities, there are waste-pickers who work at Delhis landfills. These communities, usually comprised of migrant workers or refugees with few other options, sort through waste once it comes through to the landfill. This is extremely dangerous work, though everyone from the adults to the children pitches in. The government is unsupportive of these

hina and India will continue to urbanize for many decades to come. As such, the urban lifestyle, characterized by mobility and an increased emphasis on convenience, will continue to reinforce urban consumption of products that can be consumed on-the-go. Simply, mobile water consumption is not going away. China and India (and the rest of the world) need to develop a strategy for satiating mobile water consumers sustainably. This sustainable strategy, we believe, is not continued bottled water use. Rather, we recommend increased provision of public potable water sources in heavily trafficked urban areas. Such sources should be similar to those observed in Chinese and Indian universities, public water boilers and filters, respectively, that allow for easy bottle filling. These sources should be certified and tested regularly by the government to promote public trust. Campaigns to discourage bottled water use, especially in a non-mobile context, should also be pursued. Even if bottled water consumption is decreased, urban regions still face major waste management challenges. The top-down, capitalintensive, policies in China have supported a strong bottom-up contribution to waste management. We recommend urban areas pursue strong top-down policies that empower the private and informal sectors. These policies need not require high capital investments on the part of the government, and may include education campaigns and economic incentives and standardized protocols for private and informal actors pursuing recycling activities.