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The water footprint of a soft drink depends of course on its ingredients. We have formulated a
hypothetical but typical sugar-containing soft drink (as specified in the source provided below).
The water footprint of this soft drink is estimated between 170 to 310 liters per 0.5 litre bottle.
The production of soft drink includes the following process steps: bottle making (from PET resins
to PET-bottle forms), bottle cleaning (by air), syrup preparation, mixing, filling, labeling and packing.
Most of the water footprint of the soft drink comes from its supply-chain, mainly from its ingredients (95 %).
A smaller fraction stems from packaging and labeling materials (4%), particularly from its bottle. In production
processes, the amount of water consumed is very small compared to its supply-chain (1 %), which is mainly water
incorporated into the product.
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Sugar is one of the main water consuming ingredients in the soft drink. Three different
sugar types are typically used in soft drinks: sugar beet, sugar cane and high fructose maize syrup (HFMS).
Type and origin of sugar input significantly effects on the total water footprint of the soft drink. For example,
the total water footprint of the soft drink is 310 liters when the sugar originates from cane sugar from Cuba, 170
liters when the sugar comes from beet sugar from the Netherlands, and 180 liters with HFMS from USA.
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| The total water footprint of 0.5 litre
PET-bottle soft drink according to the type and origin of the sugar (SB=Sugar Beet, SC=Sugar Cane,
HFMS= High Fructose Maize Syrup) |
The main environmental impacts of the soft drink are from the grey and blue water footprints. Agricultural
ingredients cause contamination of natural freshwater sources (grey water footprint) because of the use of
fertilizers and pesticides. The biggest impact of the water footprint of the soft drink is related to the sugar
ingredient. Many sugar producing countries are water-rich countries where the water footprint does not relate to
water stress. There are, though, several localized hotspots, such as the sugar beet production in the Andalucia
region in the South of Spain, sugar cane production in Pakistan (Indus River) and India (Ganges River), and sugar
beet from Iran. With regard to water quality, pollution by nitrates is an issue in several regions, such as the
case of Northern France, Russia (Black Sea), India, Pakistan, Cuba, Brazil, Iran and China.. Other negative effects
of sugar production are impacts on biodiversity (decrease of mangrove forestlands, and danger of extinction of
the blind river dolphin in the Indus Delta).
Publications
2011 |
Ercin, A.E., Aldaya, M.M. and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2011) Corporate water footprint accounting and impact assessment: The case of the water footprint of a sugar-containing carbonated beverage, Water Resources Management, 25(2): 721-741. |
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