A step up from bottled water? Perhaps not when you look at the full cycle

Spotted in San Francisco:

Leaving aside the benefits of good quality tap water compared to bottled or boxed water, this idea highlights the tension that can exist between encouraging reuse and recycling. Compare simply the box to a plastic bottle and the box comes out well on environmental grounds. However, when you factor in reuse, the plastic bottle at least offers the possibility of multiple reuse whilst the box is a one-off. If you want people to make multiple uses of packaging before it gets recycled, boxes are a step backwards.