Anyone using a Sodastream to save on plastic?

[Ken Figenus]

We must go through about 12 bottles of sparkling water a week - keeps the kids of sugary drinks and saves unwanted calories generally. But its a lot to lug home and lots of plastic waste, plus the bad press some plastics get for releasing carcinogenic nasties if they get too warm. Think we pay about 25p a litre or so in Lidl - so cheap as...

Sodastream looks like 36p a litre + £100 purchase (expensive for such a low tech passive device) + fridge water filter cost at £20 a shot. Far more expensive then and rather poor value.

Still, would be good to cut the plastic waste - anyone any thoughts or alternatives?

Cheers

[guindilias]

A Cornelius (Corny) keg (the stainless kegs that Coke etc. concentrates come in, now beloved of home brewers), a CO2 bottle and a dispensing hose/nozzle?

E.g - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sodastream-A-Cornelius-...

[Rosscow]

Watching with interest!

[mybrainhurts]

If you go ahead with this, I'll try to make up for you by using more plastic.

Hysterical plasticists should be locked up.

[TheAngryDog]

Sparkling water? I just refill a plastic bottle I have at work from our water cooler or fill a glass from the tap filled water filter at home.....

[Dr Murdoch]

TheAngryDog said:

Sparkling water? I just refill a plastic bottle I have at work from our water cooler or fill a glass from the tap filled water filter at home.....

How does that become sparkling?

[TheAngryDog]

Dr Murdoch said:

TheAngryDog said:

Sparkling water? I just refill a plastic bottle I have at work from our water cooler or fill a glass from the tap filled water filter at home.....

How does that become sparkling?

That's the whole point. Sparkling water is the work of the devil, or as we know him, Yipper.

[Dr Murdoch]

I'm a recent convert to sparkling, never liked it previously but developed a taste for it. Bit like when you started drinking beer as a yoof, took a while but then something just 'clicked' and never looked back.

[Ken Figenus]

Been Googling a bit and it seems you don't need to chuck the SodaStream tank away after every 60 litres at £22. You can refill it from a bigger tank via an adaptor or even buy an adapter to permanently fit a commercial size tank that will keep you sparkling for a decade! SodaStream looks like the printer cartridge business model without the huge printer subsidy!

Some take gassing it very seriously - love his spreadsheetage and formulas at the end! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf2xpfBnHDU

[4x4Tyke]

Home soda water jugs go for about £30 and the CO2 charges are about 50p, this could be filled from a fridge water filter. The soda water could easily be made into flavoured water with lemon or lime juice, or supermarket food flavour extracts like lavender, orange, vanilla etc. This is what I would do in a heart beat if I could find a good elderflower extract. I like the Aldi elderflower flavoured water.

Edited by 4x4Tyke on Wednesday 31st January 18:25

[techguyone]

£22? last time i did it, you just swapped an empty for a full at somewhere like argos for £9.99 (was a year or two ago though)

[Eddieslofart]

Get ours from the fridge, mil is the only one that drinks it. Nasty stuff.

[uluru]

Sparkling water only 12p a litre at Aldi so sodastream economics make even less sense.

[guindilias]

Ken Figenus said:

Been Googling a bit and it seems you don't need to chuck the SodaStream tank away after every 60 litres at £22. You can refill it from a bigger tank via an adaptor or even buy an adapter to permanently fit a commercial size tank that will keep you sparkling for a decade! SodaStream looks like the printer cartridge business model without the huge printer subsidy!

Some take gassing it very seriously - love his spreadsheetage and formulas at the end! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf2xpfBnHDU

Or just buy a pub CO2 cylinder, like most serious home brewers do - not a controlled gas or anything, but I don't thing Ebay will sell them because half of them are stolen!

[sgrimshaw]

We get through a fair few bottles in a week, but given the plastic bottles go in the recycling bin I don't see the issue.

If you don't recycle then that would be a different matter.

[Miocene]

Better not to use the stuff in the first instance. #hippy

[RDMcG]

Very common here in Canada. Been using one for years.

I do not bother with any of the silly flavourings, or making my own Cola or tonic. Just sparkling water. Never run out and the recycling is so much smaller.

[Funk]

I use one and a Brita filter as the water here is very hard. Used to buy bottled but it seemed daft to lug bottles around, store them and then recycle when I can make fizzy water on demand. Perhaps it's a little dearer but it's less space-consuming and wasteful.

[tannhauser]

sgrimshaw said:

We get through a fair few bottles in a week, but given the plastic bottles go in the recycling bin I don't see the issue.

If you don't recycle then that would be a different matter.

Typical bury your head in the sand attitude. What about the energy and materials to manufacture, distribute then recycle - possibly even shipping to the Far East - assuming it does get recycled and not sent to landfill?!

[rodericb]

tannhauser said:

sgrimshaw said:

We get through a fair few bottles in a week, but given the plastic bottles go in the recycling bin I don't see the issue.

If you don't recycle then that would be a different matter.

Typical bury your head in the sand attitude. What about the energy and materials to manufacture, distribute then recycle - possibly even shipping to the Far East - assuming it does get recycled and not sent to landfill?!

Yep, and China have reduced their intake of recycling materials.

I do have a Soda Stream machine. Got it for Christmas from my parents. Not flogging through plastic bottles is one thing. The other is that I now drink a lot more water instead of flavoured fizzo (i.e. coke, pepsi) which will help reign in my ever-expanding gutline. Near freezing, hyper gassed Soda Water really is delicious.