As I've been in the Philippines I've found out that hydration is REALLY important. I remember when I first heard that in Nigeria they use water satchet I was horrified. I just thought of all that plastic being used to make nothing but waste. But now that I'm in the Philippines I'm stuck with the same scenario.
So how do I stay hydrated?
If I asked you to open your wallet, take out a small denomination piece of currency and then light it on fire I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't comply. People just don't like burning money. Yet what if I told you people are doing it every day and it really annoys me? Don't believe me? Well, read along about my choice of beverage while on vacation and maybe you will see what I'm getting at in the end.
When I choose a hydration method there are a few things to consider. Of course I want to pay as little as possible. I want to get something that I will enjoy. I want something convenient. Ideally I also want something that will not have a negative impact on the environment.
Which, of course lets me wonder what are my option? How much do they cost and what is my best choice?
To be honest?
Most people don't give it any thought at all. They want a Coca-Cola, they buy it, and they discard the bottle. Or they want bottled water...Or a beer.....Or an energy drink..... Or whatever. But that isn't me, I'm way too cheap for that.
What are my Cheap options?
Now there are a lot of options for beverages. However, many are expensive. Like fruit juice (P45/300ml), Beer (P60/300ml) and milk (P120/1000mL). The less expensive options are:
- Water (P6-12 for personal size)
- Soda (P11-40 for personal size)
- Flavored Water (P20 to make a pitcher)
Now I'm going to look at each of those options with regards to cost and with regards to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Water
Now I have a strong dislike of water. Taste is disagreeable to me and while it hydrates me it gives me nothing extra. Having said this the
Absolutely best way to get water in the area I've been staying is this :
A 16L container delivered to your doorstep for P30 or just under P2 per liter. And if you are curious 1HBD is about P55. Honestly that is an awesome deal as its a lot of drinking water in a container which can be reused for a very long time. Low price and Low waste. Awesome.
Unfortunately those things are heavy so if you are looking to take a drink along with you this is a terrible idea.
Or maybe there is a better way.
You see the well water on my property is free. I just spend a bit of energy to get it from the ground. I've also spent money to verify the potability of the water. There are no fecal coliforms or heavy metals in the water so it is mostly safe but there are non-fecal coliforms so disinfection is preferred. I could boil the water but that uses electricity that I have to pay for. OR
6 hours of direct sunlight in a 1.5L bottle will disinfect the water from my well and give me drinking water at no direct cost. Plus that 1.5L bottle is far more portable that the big 16L delivery jug.
Of course if I actually want something that is more portable I'm looking at something smaller.
P6 for a 325ml Bottle of water. Cheap, right? Except that is almost P18 for a single liter of water while if I have it delivered I pay less than P2 for a liter. Those little bottles of water are EXPENSIVE.
So what if I'm sneaky? What if I get an old bottle and just refill it with water? I get to take my cheap delivered water or my really cheap SODIS water and make it portable!
I'm paying less than a Peso for a bottle of water and reusing a bottle that would otherwise be discarded. What a WIN, right?
Well, would you believe, maybe?
You see that Coca Cola bottle (or the SM water bottle) is made out of PET. Over time these bottles degrade and start leaching out heavy minerals and microplastics. The larger water bottle I used for SODIS also has the same problem. In the short term it is manageable but in the long term these bottled have a limited lifespan. One to two months max.
Of course metal reusable water bottles or even HDPE water bottles are great because they last much longer. But...if you don't clean then well they suffer from issues as well and they are really bulky and fairly expensive. So, a pain to carry and sad to lose.
If I lost a reused coca-cola bottle filled with water I wouldn't worry about it at all
Drinking soft drinks
Now water is easily the least expensive choice if you get water delivery or disinfect your own water. Put it in a reusable container and you can get your hydration very cheaply. Unfortunately it only replaces the water your body loses in heat. It doesn't replace any of the sugars or salts. Soda's? Well, they certainly aren't great but they taste better and at least replenish some salts and electrolytes.
Now here is a little rundown on Coca Cola:
| Size | Price | Price per Liter |
|---|---|---|
| 210ml | P15 | P71 |
| 285ml | P21 | P74 |
| 500ml | P40 | P80 |
| 1500ml | P68 | P45 |
| 2000ml | P88 | P44 |
What do I learn from this? Coca Cola is way more expensive than water. Also if I buy it in a small container for immediate consumption I pay almost twice as much as if I buy a larger "Home Size" bottle.
But there is a little hack here in the Philippines
In the small local shops you can buy Coca Cola in a 237ml bottle. The bottle MUST be left at the store so it will be recycled. You are buying the liquid only. However, 237mL costs P10 or about P42/liter
By buying ONLY the liquid you avoid having the pay for the bottle
And honestly? That matters.
If I took my 2L cola bottle to the sari sari and bought 8 bottles worth of cola to fill it up? I would save myself P5 (small savings BUT still a savings) but more importantly I wouldn't be spending money on a bottle that would just end up being burned!
Now if I can spend less money AND keep something out of the garbage doesn't that seem like a WIN?
Water Addititives
Now water is cheapest and Cola is more expensive ... but still cheap compared to actual juice, milk, and alcohol. But is there another option? Well, in the Philippines there certainly is.
- Juice Drink Packages
- Powdered milk packages.
Now I could buy a Nestea or Tang drink mix package for P20 and add to 1.5L of water and mix in a 1.5L Cola bottle. End result: P3 for the water and P20 for the drink crystals. P23 for 1.5L of tasty liquid. At P15/liter that isn't too bad.
Of if I want to get a little bit sneakier. I can take that 1.5L container of iced tea and split into 5 x 285ml cola bottles like this.
Total cost P4.6 / bottle. Considering buying a bottle of just water costs P6 in a convenience package I get something with some sugar, electrolytes and taste for almost 25% decrease in cost.
Pretty good say to get a tasty drink for a low price.
But what about milk?
Now sometimes milk is a liquid of choice. Goes especially well with cereal and with cookies.
Now I could of course pick up a tetrapack of milk for P105 / liter and a great many people do that. However here is the issue. That milk container is pretty large and quickly disposed of. Plus you have to transport 1L of water for each 1L of milk.
But powdered milk doesn't have any of the water and takes a small fraction of the space in transit and a lot less packaging. Less space, less packaging, means less expensive to bring to the consumer!
So these little packages can be mixed with water to make either chocolate milk or regular milk. P9 for the chocolate milk or P10 for the regular milk. Seems like a no brainer ... buy the chocolate milk... until you find out that the chocolate milk makes less when reconstituted. So the whole milk wins out until you find out that the chocolate milk is fortified with vitamins and minerals.
Which means I'm going to generalize. If you take 4 packets (P40) and add 1L of water (P3) then for P43 you get either chocolate or whole milk.
- Same price as the Coca Cola at its least expensive
- More protein and vitamins than Coca cola by far
- Less than half the price of buying "liquid" milk
- Way less packaging!
Sounds like a big win for the milk powder!
Sure some people might say that it doesn't taste quite the same....but honestly mixed properly and allowed to sit for overnight it gets to be very similar in taste.
But there is another problem. While the milk packets are much much lighter than the milk tetrapacks (1g vs 50g) so they make about 98% less waste overall. The liquid milk packages are often recycleable while the milk powder packages are not recycleable. So, do you want way less of something you can't recycle or way more of something you could recycle but often don't?
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Now while I'm in the Philippines I hate the fact that where I am there are no recycling facilities available. I always recycle in Canada but I have no opportunity to do so in a small barangay outside of Tuguegarao. So, my choices are to either reduce or reuse.
Reuse seems like a way better way to go. Using the bottles I do have for a month or so to hold water, milk or juice crystal remix seems like a way to make less overall waste and save money at the same time.
Reducing how much I use overall is even better. By NOT buying the bottle when I buy my cola I save money and reduce waste. Awesome! By buying the much smaller powder packaging as opposed to the much larger bottles or tetrapacks helps me reduce how much waste I have to deal with in the first place. And I hate BURNING money
However, also making sure that what I do have CAN be recycled is important.
Moving Forward
A lesser known option in the Philippines is the junk shop. Rather than trying to make an actual recycling program. PET from cola bottles is actually a resaleable commodity. That 2L cola bottle that I use for SODIS for a month? Well, it weight 50g and 1000g sells for P5 in Manila. Sure that is only 0.25P for a single bottle (if my math is right). However, it does mean that it is quite possible to get cash for garbage!
Metals, Glass and much more can be sold for cash.
Maybe someday when people see that there is money in their garbage they will want to collect it....
But I don't think that time is quite yet.
....
And that's my take on the Hive Learners post about recycling. Do I recycle? In the Philippines. No. Garbage ends up in a trash fire (so tragic). To that end I take great care to figure out how I can get my items with a minimum amount of cost or waste. In the future it would be nice to make money from others garbage and clean up the barangay but for now I'll just get back to recycling when I get back to Canada.
Thanks for reading and as always I love feedback. As a final side note, if anyone is looking, all the images were taken by me during my quest for inexpensive hydration on my vacation