(Français)
InsideTheBottle.org was a Polaris Institute campaign that was launched in 2007 with the publication of Inside the Bottle: an expose on the bottled water industry, by Tony Clarke. The section of our website is designed to serve as an access point for resources, tips, statistics and tools that students, community members and organizations can use to build their own campaigns challenging the corporate control of water and promoting public water management in their communities. Below you will find an archive of these resources and information on the bottled water industry.
For more recent campaign activities, see the Back the Tap campaign from the Coalition for bottled water free communities. If you have additional questions, please contact us.
Available Resources
- Facts about bottled water
- Maps: communities taking action against bottled water
- Bottled water industry
Some InsideTheBottle History
The Polaris Institute bottled water campaign’s first initiative was mostly centred on university and college campuses, seeking to create “Bottled Water Free Zones”. This soon extended to work with municipalities, promoting reinvestment in municipal water services and distancing from the bottled water industry through phasing-out the sales and purchasing of bottled water at municipal facilities. We later pursued a bilingual youth program in the secondary school system entitled: Re-Fresh!/Re-Jaillir!
In 2010, Polaris launched the first national Bottled Water Free Day with the Canadian Federation of Students and the Sierra Youth Coalition. Other major partners in 2011 included the Canadian Union of Public Employees and Development and Peace. Since the Day’s inception, hundreds of schools, universities, colleges, municipalities and organizations have participated across Canada.
Posters created to spoof Coke and Pepsi:
