This section is focused on the actual process of filtering, bottling, and quality assurance of the water that companies receive from sources. For this process I will focus on one company in order to go into more detail about the actual process and the geographical impacts that these processes have.
San Pellegrino’s bottling facility is set up in San Pellegrino Terme, Province of Bergamo, Italy. The plant is operational 24 hours a day and has more than 400 employees at its disposal (“Sanpellegrino Company & Water Quality Report”). Stopping here to talk into account the effect this has on the social geography of the Bergamo area, San Pellegrino Terme (the commune where the San Pellegrino production facility is located) has a population of 4,974 as of 1o Dec. 2010 (“San Pellegrino Terme). This means that, if all of San Pellegrino’s employees are located in this area, which it is likely they are, San Pellegrino employees at least eight percent of the total population of this area. This means that this company provides eight percent of the total economy to this area (if not more) at any given time.
After drawing its water from the source, San Pellegrino has a 9 step quality process in place to the safety of consumption of their beverage:
“1. Source Selection and Monitoring
2. Source Water Receiving and Monitoring
3. Water Storage and Monitorying
4. Carbonation
5. Bottling Control
6. Packaging Control
7. Clean-In-Place Sanitation Process
8. Plant Quality Control and HACCP Program [(Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point)]
9. Corporate Quality Assurance Program” (“Sanpellegrino Company & Water Quality Report”).
Throughout the process of the production a great amount of greenhouse gasses are emitted. However, San Pellegrino has been greatly reducing its environmental impact over the past nine years. A seven year observation, study, and policy placement of their own emissions was done by the company in order to reduce their impact. By the end of the project they reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 29%, avoiding the production of over 460,000 tonnes of CO2 over the seven year span (In A Bottle).
This being said, the emissions by water bottling companies do add greatly to the amount of CO2 being released into our solar system, which is affecting the weather of the planet globally.
San Pellegrino uses glass bottles as well as plastic. Their plastic bottles are made from PET, the most easily recycled plastic on the market (“S.Pellegrino Bottles: PET Range & Glass Range”). So San Pellegrino is going as far as it can go to make sure they add as little to landfills as possible, therefore, reducing its physical geographical impact as much as possible.
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