In a first-ever lawsuit, the California Attorney General alleges that three companies have falsely claimed that their water bottles are “100% biodegradable and recyclable.”

In 2008, the California Legislature passed a law that prohibits food or beverage containers labeled with biodegradable, degradable, or decomposable, or anything that suggests that a food or beverage container will break down, fragment, biodegrade, or decompose in a landfill or other environment. Any claim must be substantiated by scientific evidence that all the materials in the package will break down into usable compost in a timely manner.

The suit claims that ENSO, Balance, and AquaMantra were illegally selling, or participating in arranging the sale of plastic beverage containers in or into California.

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Hey you! The one on our super-cool Bulletin Bottle website. Why are you here? I’m sure you know that water bottles are one of the hottest, trendiest items out there to put your message on.  And, it’s definitely a bonus that customized water bottles practically shout, “This organization is eco-friendly! You can feel good associating with them.”

But do you know WHY reusable water bottles are so environmentally friendly? Do you know why it’s so devastating to the Earth to use disposable bottles?

The people at The Story of Stuff Project have put together a great video about how this bottled water business came about, why it’s hurting the world, and what you can do about it.

People in the U.S. buy enough bottles of water each week to circle the globe more than 5 times. Each year, making the plastic water bottles used in the U.S. takes enough oil and energy to fuel a million cars.

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