PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2018

imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Bunsenstr. 14 69115 Heidelberg, Germany phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 info@hbmedia.net EDITORIAL Kay Barton Heike Fischer Gabriele Kosmehl Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Waldemar Schmitke Anthony Withers WikiPETia.info petplanet@hbmedia.net MEDIA CONSULTANTS Martina Hirschmann hirschmann@hbmedia.net Johann Lange-Brock lange-brock@hbmedia.net phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Werbeagentur | exprim.de Matthias Gaumann READER SERVICES Till Kretner reader@hbmedia.net PRINT Chroma Druck & Verlag GmbH Werkstr. 25 67354 Römerberg Germany WWW www.hbmedia.net | w ww.petpla.net PETplanet Insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ sub- scription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trademarks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 03/18 www.petpla.net I use PET bottles just like any other consumer; I drink from them then throw them away. I never give a moment’s thought as to how essential the bottle can be for some people when drinking water is not available at the required quality or in the required quantity. Water shortages are always far away from us; they are issues for the drier areas of the world, not our “civilised” regions. Or so we like to think. Do we still remember the city of Flint in Michigan, USA? Legionella and other contaminants were found in the city’s rundown pipework. Drinking water provision has been interrupted there for two years now and has been replaced by water in PET. The situation is different in Cape Town, where the quality is suf- ficient but not the quantity. Because of three years of drought, drink- ing water reservoirs in the region are almost empty and “Day Zero” looms on August 27. After that, the city will have to initiate water provision, unless sufficient rain falls prior to this. Then, residents will have to collect their daily ration of 25 litres of water from 200 public distribution centres monitored by the army and police. Besides HDPE water canisters, PET bottles and PET canisters will play their part in providing supplies to the population. Perhaps when I drink from my next PET bottle, I will think how much more it can be than just consumer-friendly drink packaging. Yours Alexander Büchler Dear friends of PETplaner Insider, Water, Water, Water...