Boxed WHAT?!

I received a package recently that included a variety of things, but one thing really stood out because it set off the alarms in my head that said "BLOG ALERT!  BLOG ALERT!"  My sense of impending silliness quickly reached overflowing status - which is appropriate because we're talking about a liquid.

So, we'll start with the first picture where we can see a "prepared date" of October, 2022.  So, whatever it is must be fairly fresh - or at least I thought it must be.  And there is a "best by" date in October of 2024.  So, I've got nearly two years until this product "goes bad" on me.

Thank goodness, I wasn't sure I could have stood the pressure if it was going to go bad really soon.  After all, I need some time to consider my options!

So, what was in the box, you ask?

Yes, there you have it.  A box of water.  Two hundred and fifty milliliters (that's 8.4 fluid ounces for you 'Muricans out there) of liquidy wet stuff just begging to be used by October of 2024. I should probably figure out when I can put my consumption of this boxed water on to my calendar because I really would hate for it to go bad.  I am also wondering if it will go best with fish, chicken or red meat.  Anyone know?

Look, we shouldn't be so surprised that the water is due to go bad within a couple of years.  I mean, it's been circulating around the earth for about 3.8 billion years.  We had to expect that the expiration date was coming up sometime soon, didn't we?

I took a quick look at the label to find out where the water came from and noted that the company is based in Holland, Michigan.  So, I suspect Lake Michigan is probably not going to miss 8.4 fluid ounces taken from the approximately 1 quadrillion gallons of water in the lake.  And, it is nice to know that some company in Holland has reverse osmosis filtration to clean the water for consumption.  

But, there's no getting around it - this water is STILL 3.8 billion years old, filtration won't change the fact that it is really old, I don't think.

I'm also curious.  Flint, Michigan is only a couple hour drive from Holland to the east on Interstate 96.  Maybe they could send a giant box or two to Flint so people there could have decent water?

Ok.  I get it.  This company is attempting to respond to the issue that all of these plastic bottles of water marketed and used by people in the United States are adding to issues with plastic pollution.  And, all that water is 3.8 billion years old too.  So, when October 2022 comes along we're going to have all of these boxes and plastic bottles of expired, rotten water to toss out.  At least the boxes should break down... mostly.  But certainly more than the plastic bottles will.

And here's part of the irony of it all - Lake Michigan is dealing with plastic pollution.  I wonder if reverse osmosis takes all of that out too?  So, the box apparently is mostly not plastic (based on their description), but the water in it contains plastic?  Well, whatever, it's all just going to expire in two years anyway.  So never mind.

I wonder if we've considered how we should dispose of all of the rotten water once it goes bad?  Are they going to hire people to pour it out of all of the bottles and boxes into some sort of holding tank?  Or maybe some geological formation miles under ground?  I don't know - but maybe I should research it so I can prepare for the inevitable.

I did note that the producer of this product proudly claims that 92% of the packaging is from "renewable materials, mostly paper."  They claim that even the cap is mostly "plant-based."  

This explains something I've been wondering about.  Have you noticed that doctor and dentist waiting rooms, hotel lobbies and other similar places have fewer plastic plants than they did before.  Perhaps you have noticed that hobby stores don't have as wide a selection of fake sprigs of flowers for crafting.  Well, we've found the reason - mostly plant based caps on boxed water from Holland, Michigan.  What they don't tell you is that the plants were made of plastic.

Well, anyway, my own personal quandary is still to decide when I will break open this box of water so it can be consumed before it expires.  Until then, I think I will send a thank you note with a box of fresh, crisp Iowa air as a token of my gratitude.  

Just one problem.  I'm not sure how old that air is.

Nor do I know when it will expire.