Posted in: Inspiration | No Comments | Posted on June 10, 2012 by kari

What a fantastic discovery!
Away with all the empty, terrible plastic bottles of mineral water which no one here knows how to get rid of, except of leaving them scattered outside their houses, often in big heaps in the village or along the road,  or eagerly burning them with thick stinky smoke; both ways just as disastrous for the environment. Recycling is almost non-existing in this part of the world, so what to do with all these bottles?

Along our way we met an Australian couple who gave us the tip of the century. A small device which is purifying water with UV-light, one liter in 90 seconds. The brand they had was called “Steripen”, and they had been using it for sterilizing all their drinking water during their travels in Far East for the last two years, with no problems at all.
Imagine how many plastic-bottles saved that is!

We have enthusiastically invested in one for our travels as well. In Kathmandu we paid about 60€ for a Steripen Adventure, and you can find it online for about the same price (from US$ 89), depending on the model. But this is not about money, it is about being a conscious traveller and the basic belief that every small action helps. With 4 people in a hot climate we are consuming quite a lot of water, and now we can simply take any water from the tap or anywhere, as long as it is clear, and treat it with light. No aftertaste and no chemicals as with tablets, and NO waste. The only thing which need to be changed every now and then are the batteries, so it is advisable to also invest in a good set of rechargeable batteries (special type, lithiumCR123) with a charger, or buy the newer and slightly more expensive model which is rechargeable with solar as well as electricity.

Please tell people about it.

For more info, see www.steripen.com.