Journal of a thousand miles: Canny drinks

We make an enormous effort to collect and recycle as much as we can. We have done it for years. Even on my grand walk across the top of Spain, I was known as the person who cleaned up the rubbish as I went. Even before it was profitable to turn in containers I was making sure that any in my way would make it to a rubbish bin or a recycling station.

Now, around once a fortnight, we fill up the car with recyclables, motor out to the local station and push through hundreds of beverage containers contributed by family, friends and the other people at our apartment complex. The proceeds of 10 cents a container goes towards installing outside garden seating within the complex and other common projects. Once we run out of projects I am sure that other worthy causes will pop up.
Doing this work on a regular basis has alerted us to just how much waste we produced. Each of us needs to reuse more. Even our prime minister, Scott Morrison admits only 12% of all plastic bottles are recycled.

Consequently, we are considering doing Sodastream.

Nancy said that she would like to do that but wants to be able to flavour what she makes with something a little more exotic...she favours Chinotto, a favourite flavour of San Pellegrino.

Our knee-jerk reaction was to look in our local supermarket. They had the SodaStream exchange gas bottles for the initial price of $35 but an exchange price of $19. This does about 50 refills.

Flavourings by the standard commercial brands such as Pepsi and 7up cost $7. That would work out at less than a $1 a litre and so the expensive $200 set up could be amortised in about two years. As a point of comparison a litre throwaway bottle of Coke from Woolies is five times that.

However, checked the Sodastream website and found a lot more points of supply including Dan Murphy’s in Dickson. Where to buy SodaStream – Store Locator & Stockists Near You. I seem to be able to get good standard starter packs online for around the $200 mark including some 500ml and 1ltre bottles.

The ever reliable Choice appraisal was done only a few days ago. Its key points were

SodaStream is the best known brand of soda makers, but we tested 10 models from brands including SodaStream, Soda King, Aarke and Philips. Choice recommends some of the SodaStream stable, the One Touch, Source, Spirit and the Crystal. They vary in price and functionality.. It is obvious that the people who work for Choice like the system. Update: we ordered the $134.10 basic Source Element directly from SodaStream Australia. We should see it and the custom group of accessories, in a few days.
It’s mostly cheaper to make your own sparkling water with a soda maker than to buy bottled water...especially if you have a penchant for the pricey imported stuff (we do, I regularly move through a case of cans every few weeks)
Convenience, health and the environment are other factors to consider. While plain (or 'normal') water with no added flavour or bubbles is overall the best drink option for your body and your teeth, carbonated water is still a better option than fruit juice or other fizzy drinks that are sweetened.