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Wherever you live in the world, whether it is a Local Council, Presidential, State or Federal election, your mailbox will groan with the weight of materials aimed at getting your vote. It might be the digital age, but it seems that a pamphlet in your letterbox is still considered the most effective way of getting a message across.

While an informed electorate is crucial to the democratic process, there appears to be a glut of over-sending of junk mail for political purposes – and no clear way on how to fix this. What’s worse, the content of most of the political flyers is simply mudslinging about their opponents with little to no intellectual substance. Is anyone else reminded of children in the playground?

How can you help stop this frivolous waste of paper? Imagine the strain on our environment and the large volume of greenhouse gases generated from all the trees cut down, printing and transport of the materials. Grab a cup of tea or your water bottle and let’s get down to it.

We know in Australia that material deemed to be political, educational, religious and charitable is exempt from “No Junk Mail” signed letterboxes according to standards developed by the Australian Catalogue Association. So there is no way to stop it being dumped in your letterbox along with the other junk mail catalogues enticing you to buy all sorts of things you don’t really need. It is probably the same in other countries.

Step 1. Incorrectly addressed political mail
A lot of of your mail may be addressed to former occupants of the house. You need to “return this to sender” with the note “no longer at this address”.

Step 2. Contact every political party or politician that is mailing you
There is no central database so you will need to call the office of each individual sender and ask to be removed from their mailing list. Remember to be nice! You catch more bees with honey than vinegar.

Step 3. National Standard to stop political junk mail
Write a letter to the Electoral Commission asking them to implement a National Standard to curb the number of pieces each political party is allowed to put in each household’s letterbox.

Step 4. Polling day
Don’t forget to recycle any materials you are given on the day – often the Greens Party has a box at the booths for such materials on polling day!

Written by Tracey Bailey, Director of Biome Eco Stores in Brisbane, specialists in water bottles and eco friendly, reusable choices for your home, body and lifestyle.

Bear a plastic water bottle at your own demise; the pressure of widespread belief is forming away from you. From top rating documentaries, to articles and political campaigns, the hottest topic around is the menace of bottled water and the waste of resources that the industry generates.

The producing, transportation and waste of water in petrochemical plastic bottles consumes big quantities of water as well as energy, and creates huge quantities of greenhouse gases and waste.

Director of the upcoming documentary ‘Tapped: get off the bottle’ Stephanie Soechtig says “1500 water bottles end up in landfill every second – that’s 30 million water bottles a day! We wanted to show people just how much waste is generated by bottled water.” The Tapped team are pushing the movie with their across-America roadshow, receiving pledges from citizens to reduce their water bottle abuse and taking their old plastic water bottle for a reusable stainless steel bottle. Download Tapped from Amazon or iTunes.

A similar film ‘The Story of Bottled Water’ was released on World Water Day in March. From Annie Leonard of the acclaimed ‘The Story of Stuff’, this film explores the method that is behind swaying Americans into consuming at least five hundred million bottles of water each week, as opposed to a few cents cost for clean tap water. Find the film on You Tube.

In her book ‘Bottlemania’, investigator Elizabeth Royte explores one of the most massive marketing takeovers of the last century and demands a strong environmental alarm. She details the red flags we must at some point deal with. Who distributes the water supply? What will happen when a bottled-water company possesses your town’s drinking water? Is the water that comes from your tap wholly safe? What is really the environmental footprint of making, transportation and disposing of a plastic water bottle?

Politicians all around the international community are realising that they must do something – especially when the buildings at which they collate are large consumers of bottled water. How often do we view a politician in a press conference sipping from a water bottle. It is probable that they should be able to drink from a water glass in Parliament House.

Leslie Samuelrich of Corporate Accountability International, claimed “Cities and states are spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on bottled water, and that’s not to mention what’s spent to deal with all the plastic bottles that are thrown out.”

In July 2009, the NSW rural town of Bundanoon became the first community of Australia to prohibited the retail of bottled water. Around 60 places in the American states and some towns in Canada and the United Kingdom have at this point prevented the spending of taxpayer holdings on bottled water.

It is doubtless that these problems will be discussed during World Water Week 2010 from September 5 to 11 in Stockholm, Sweden, the annual meeting for the globe’s most time-sensitive water-related issues.

Article written by Tracey Bailey, founder of Biome Eco Stores.

You are doing the right thing for the planet by filling up at home and carrying a reusable water bottle and you’ve chosen a safe, non-toxic bottle-but if it’s not kept clean then it may not be healthy.

Whether your drink bottle is a stainless steel bottle, SIGG bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming in the bottle.

Wash your drink bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off every day where possible.

Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean water bottle with Distilled White Vinegar and let it soak for 24 hours. Then rinse with warm water mixed with one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), rinse out and let dry. Spots inside the bottle that look like “corrosion” are most likely a mineral deposit.

Fill your bottle with filtered water wherever possible. It tastes so much better, but also because water contains different minerals in every area this may affect what happens inside your bottle.

Do not allow liquids such as fruit juice to ferment inside the bottle.

With all reusable water bottles you can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and a specially-designed SIGG bottle cleaning brush, or simply a baby bottle brush. Only ever use a soft brush on aluminium bottles with lining like SIGG so as not to damage the lining. Stainless steel water bottles like Klean Kanteen and Nathan can handle a hard brush.

While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, it is recommended to not put them in a dishwasher. Most dishwasher powders are caustic, so they will eat into the metal of your bottle and damage the exterior pattern. Bottle tops should also not be put in the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.

Never freeze metal bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside. Water does not always expand in a predictable direction! Freezing plastic water bottles is also not advisable because it may cause the plastic to breakdown and toxins to leach. It is fine to place your bottle in the refrigerator.

Tips on cleaning your water bottle brought to you by Biome Eco Stores Australia.