Inside the Wendy House: Go Green with SodaStream

Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Go Green with SodaStream

I remember when SodaStreams were all the rage when I was a child in the 70's. I wanted one so badly. I wanted to "get busy with the fizzy" as I sang along to the TV ads. Sadly, my parents didn't feel the need to satisfy my craving for a fun-filled fizzy drinks maker.

Who'd have thought that all these years later the retro fizzy drinks maker of my childhood dreams would make such a massive resurgence to become the most sought after gift of Christmas 2010! It has a sleeker and more chic image, but it is still the same fun gadget I coveted in my youth making sparkling beverages from ordinary tap water!

These days the SodaStream offers much more than just a way of making fizzy drinks at home, it now has a much more important role. The impact on the soft drinks market on the environment is massive. The average household consumes over 500 litres of soft drinks and disposes of more than 500 plastic bottles every year. Less than half of these are recycled. SodaStream is committed to help reduce the impact of the soft drinks market on the environment. They offer an environmentally friendly alternative to buying ready made soft drinks and fizzy water. The re-usable bottles last for 3 years, and so they reduce the amount of plastic we thrown away. It makes much more sense to reduce and re-use packaging than constantly throw it away and buy in more. Doing the maths...this means that over the life of the SodaStream, the average family would save over 117 kg of plastic packaging!! This doesn't even take into account the impact of the manufacture of the bottles and the transport of the soft drinks to the shops. SodaStream's 'Active Green' solution minimizes the huge eco-footprint made by the soft drinks industry!

Putting the fabulous environmentally friendly factors aside, can the SodaStream really offer a replacement for the drinks I buy for my family? I was lucky enough to be offered a SodaStream Drinks Maker to try out and review Inside the Wendy House with my "Tiny Testers"! There was a lot of excitement on the day it arrived...the much coveted item was welcomed into my family at long last!

My first impression was that the design was very modern, sleek and would look great in the kitchen. This isn't a novelty item, it's a serious must-have gadget! It came with two re-usable litre bottles with lids, the gas cylinder and a sample of three concentrates.

The Concentrates are available in more than 30 flavours, including isotonic drinks, diet drinks, fruity flavours and mixers. A £3.29 bottle makes up to 12 litres of sparkling drink. This is a fraction of the cost you'd expect to pay in the shops. If you're a fan of sparkling water you can just carbonate your tap water and make massive savings! This sparkling water can be added to fruit juice to make really healthy homemade fizzy mocktails! (My favourite is orange juice, cranberry juice and fizzy water! So refreshing with the promise of warmer weather fast approaching!)

We were sent the Cranberry and Raspberry and the Orange concentrates to try. The girls made a demo video of how to make Orange Flavoured Fizzy Drink.

It really is very easy and the drinks taste authentic and are good quality.

New for the 21st century SodaStream have just launched their SodaStream Fizz with patented in-built Fizz Chip technology which allows consumers to see exactly how much fizz they are putting into their water and also how much gas is left in the cylinder on a digital display. You'll never be left feeling flat with the "Fizz"!

My family are really enjoying having the SodaStream. It is fun to use, makes great tasting drinks and fizzy water at a fraction of the price of shop bought drinks and is reducing the amount of waste we produce. It feels good to know we are doing something positive to reduce our carbon footprint, while still enjoying a treat and having fun!