# Sodastream - yea or nay?



## Proto (23 Dec 2020)

Being lightweight near teetotallers, my wife and I have taken to drinking carbonated water, and usually, for no particular reason, San Pellegrino.

It's not expensive but the thought of clogging up the planet with even more plastic bottles suggests we ought to stop, just drink tap water, or buy a Sodastream.

My parents had a Sodastream ("get busy with the fizzy") over 40 years ago, used to make 'cola' and 'tonic water' but results were not great so it fell into disuse, and I understand the Sodastream company itself fell into disuse not long after. The company bumbled along as part of Cadbury Schweppes before being revitalised by an Israeli company, and production subsequently moved to Israel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SodaStream

So, about £70.00 for a machine and a further £15 for gas cartridge refills. I read somewhere that on purely financial terms, you're better off buying bottled sparkling water from Tesco, but that might not be the point. We'd save half a dozen plastic bottles a week. However, a fair amount of energy goes into making the Sodastem kit itself, plus the cartridges, so from an energy/envionment point of view, maybe on balance, the bottles, if recycled, are not so evil?

Thoughts, please!

PS there are alternatives to Sodastream. Economics are not much different, but if we buy one, I'd like to find a way of refilling the gas cartridge myself for pennies!


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## Eric Olthwaite (23 Dec 2020)

Just half fill a bottle with tap water, give it a good shake, and drink it really quickly before the bubbles disappear.


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## Oldhippy (23 Dec 2020)

Definitely nay.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (23 Dec 2020)

Why don't you recycle your plastic bottles?


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## fossyant (23 Dec 2020)

Why not. Go for it


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## newfhouse (23 Dec 2020)

No, for all the reasons contained in the original post.

Just keep a refillable glass bottle of tap water in your fridge.


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## Debade (23 Dec 2020)

I had a Soda Stream years ago. It was OK and better than buying bottles. Since becoming a home brewer, I have a 10 pound CO2 canister and a carbonation cap. A little less convenient for making soda water but much cheaper and easy enough. For home brew,, i use it to carbonate the next keg in line.


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## Proto (23 Dec 2020)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> Why don't you recycle your plastic bottles?



We do, send them off in the recycling box weekly, but the energy to make them, energy to recycle them, all wasteful.


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## winjim (23 Dec 2020)

We've got one, for the same reasons of reducing plastic waste. Wife's also off the booze while pregnant and breastfeeding. We use it mainly just for fizzy water and squash, without the fancy syrups.

I believe there may be ethical considerations around the siting of their factories and the makeup of their workforce but I only became aware of that since we bought the thing. I know Scarlet Johansonn got some stick for endorsing them.


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## Proto (23 Dec 2020)

winjim said:


> We've got one, for the same reasons of reducing plastic waste. Wife's also off the booze while pregnant and breastfeeding. We use it mainly just for fizzy water and squash, without the fancy syrups.
> 
> I believe there may be ethical considerations around the siting of their factories and the makeup of their workforce but I only became aware of that since we bought the thing. I know Scarlet Johansonn got some stick for endorsing them.



Yes, quite a bit about it on Wiki. Doesnt make you want to buy one. Quite the opposite.


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## gbb (23 Dec 2020)

Had one years ago when we had kids so it seemed a good idea. It wasnt in our case, too damn expensive for the concentrates plus filling bottles. It didn't even taste that good, not bad, but not outstanding for the cost.
Pop is so cheap now and I work on the principle the bottles get recycled anyway plus who knows which system is environmentally better ? It's not a given the sodastream system is better for the environment, unless it's been proven.


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## Fergs (23 Dec 2020)

I’m told you can use it on white wine and get decent results. Methode industrielle, if you will


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## Eric Olthwaite (23 Dec 2020)

I imagine that fizzy drinks made with a Sodastream at home taste similar to those dispensed from a drinks hose at a pub, since they both use carbonated water + syrup. 

On that basis, I can confidently predict that a Sodastream-based approach will be better for the environment - mainly because the resulting beverage is so revolting that environmentally-friendly tap water will be preferred every time.


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## Chris S (23 Dec 2020)

winjim said:


> I believe there may be ethical considerations around the siting of their factories and the makeup of their workforce but I only became aware of that since we bought the thing. I know Scarlet Johansonn got some stick for endorsing them.


The factory on the West Bank was closed down and 500 Palestinians lost their jobs.


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## PaulSB (23 Dec 2020)

@Proto one of my sons gave my wife a Soda Stream for her birthday. Mrs P wanted one purely because she was unhappy about the amount of plastic waste she was creating by buying water.

It works very well for providing sparkling water. I know nothing about syrups etc.

Personally I'm very happy with plain tap water.


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## winjim (23 Dec 2020)

Chris S said:


> The factory on the West Bank was closed down and 500 Palestinians lost their jobs.


The whole situation is honestly too complicated for me to know whether that's a good or a bad thing.


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## MontyVeda (23 Dec 2020)

hows about getting one of these...


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## Oldhippy (23 Dec 2020)

Wow!


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## Pale Rider (23 Dec 2020)

Not having to lug home an extra two kilos of shopping for each bottle is a benefit to me.

I usually have lightly fizzed water or squash, or the occasional tonic syrup which tastes much the same as factory made.

A potential snag is exchanging the gas bottles.

Not so easy to do online.

Over the years a couple of the supermarkets have announced they are going to offer a full Sodastream service, but when I returned a few months later there was no sign of it.

The clue might be in 'a few months later'.

Sodastream gas bottles, if not the machines and the syrup, are slow moving inventory in the fast moving world of the supermarkets, so they quickly tire of selling them.


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## JohnHughes307 (23 Dec 2020)

We bought a sodamagic machine which isn't made in Israel but end up using the same cartridges from Sodastream. Our local Argos in Sainsbury's does CO2 bottles but we now use an online replacement service. Only use it for fizzy water, but it saves a lot if plastic. Tried a tonic substitute, but no patch on Fever Tree😁


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## stoatsngroats (24 Dec 2020)

We had the same concern regarding plastic bottles for sparkling water, and tried sidastream, which worked fine for awhile.
I didn’t do a detailed breakdown of cost, but we stopped using it, and returned to buying a 6x2l pack locally, and recycling the bottles.
Whilst sparkling water might not be for many, we have foregone any alcohol since 2011, and with our other dietary choices believe we have reduced our environmental cost in any case.
You have to have some pleasure in life, and sparkling water is ours!


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## JhnBssll (24 Dec 2020)

I bought one when I stopped drinking around four and a half years ago. It still gets used regularly but the refills aren't cheap. I'm tempted to make an adaptor and get a decent sized bottle from BOC


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## Kingfisher101 (26 Dec 2020)

Pointless, just get a bottle of dilute squash that will last ages or drink tap water.


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## Mr Celine (28 Dec 2020)

When we moved to Celine Towers we found that tap water smelled of chorine and tasted revolting. Blasting CO2 through it with a sodastream either removes the chemicals or masks their taste and smell. It's only used for fizzy water or to dilute juice.


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## rualexander (28 Dec 2020)

Bulk by your CO2?
https://www.bottlegases.co.uk/produ...2-cylinder-filling-food-grade-6-35kg-content/


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## icowden (29 Dec 2020)

Buy your sparkling water in glass bottles?


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## Dave Davenport (29 Dec 2020)

My daughter's got one, but she lives in Pembrokeshire where the water tastes much nicer than the stuff that comes out of the tap here. It does seem to work out quite expensive compared to basic fizzy spring water though. I wasn't aware of the Israel / Palestinian connection & controversy, I'd want to read up on that before buying one, I only opened this thread to say they've got them in Lidl for thirty quid actually!


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