Meaningful actions like recycling, light-weighting packaging and just generally being environmentally conscious have propelled not just the bottled water industry, but also the larger non-alcoholic beverage industry, to become more green.

Our member companies are leading the way with 100 percent recyclable and reusable packaging. We’re working hard to reduce our environmental impact even further by making packaging of all our products even lighter and more reusable. While we may be a small part of the environmental challenge, we’re working to be a big part of the solution.

For more information on bottled water, please visit our Web site.

Interestingly, this week the beverage industry also had an exciting announcement about school beverage options, reporting that 88 percent fewer beverage calories are available in schools! The Final Progress Report on the implementation of our School Beverage Guidelines also shows that we’ve removed full-calorie sodas from schools, and replaced them with a range of lower-calorie, nutritious, smaller-portion choices. We’re proud of our final results and we know our efforts will have a meaningful and lasting impact.

For more information on this and other beverage industry news, check in with us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

President Clinton called it “breathtaking progress.”

The president touted the collaboration between the beverage industry and non-profit organizations, as well as the innovative school beverage guidelines, as a model for effectively tackling societal concerns. Check out his comments in these video highlights from his news conference.

For more about the changes that have been made in America’s schools, please access the Alliance School Beverage Guidelines Final Progress Report, which shows a number of remarkable achievements. Here are some of the notable achievements:

• Calories available from beverages in schools have been cut dramatically. In fact, 88 percent fewer beverage calories were shipped to schools between 2004 and the end of 2009.

• Full-calorie soft drinks have been removed. Shipments of full-calorie soft drinks to schools have declined by 95 percent.

• We have successfully changed the beverage landscape in schools across the country. The guidelines provide for a range of lower-calorie, nutritious and smaller-portion beverage options.

• The School Beverage Guidelines are a national standard that is in place and working. In short, the beverage industry worked with its school partners to accomplish a change in school nutrition that Washington is still just talking about.

Our industry is the only industry that has voluntarily and successfully implemented a national standard in schools across the country. For more information and to view the final progress report online, please click here.

No matter the season, however, it is essential to be physically active – and just as essential to stay hydrated. Whether shoveling snow or playing flag football, those activities burn calories – which is important to the overall equation of maintaining a healthy weight. If done vigorously, these activities will make you sweat, and may even cause you to lose hydration and other key nutrients such as electrolytes. So no matter your activity, be sure to drink enough fluids.

If you want to learn more about hydration, you can check out the hydration section of our Web site.

In fact, President Clinton announced the results earlier today at a news conference. Thanks to the School Beverage Guidelines, there are now 88 percent fewer calories from beverages in our nation’s schools – 88 percent! Now that’s change we can believe in!

The Alliance School Beverage Guidelines Final Progress Report shows a number of remarkable achievements. Here are some of the highlights:

• Calories available from beverages in schools have been cut dramatically. In fact, 88 percent fewer beverage calories were shipped to schools between 2004, the last comprehensive data available prior to the agreement, and the end of 2009.
• Full-calorie soft drinks have been removed. Shipments of full-calorie soft drinks to schools have declined by 95 percent.
• We have successfully changed the beverage landscape in schools across the country. The guidelines provide for a range of lower-calorie, nutritious and smaller-portion beverage options.
• The School Beverage Guidelines are a national standard that is in place and working. In short, the beverage industry worked with its school partners to accomplish a change in school nutrition that Washington is still just talking about. And we support making them federal law, a point we have testified to on several occasions.

Our industry is the only industry that has voluntarily and successfully implemented a national standard in schools across the country. For more information and to view the final progress report online, please click here.

Many enjoy their morning cup of coffee for the flavor, some for the caffeine. In fact, an 8-ounce drip coffee contains approximately 104-192 milligrams of caffeine.

Energy drinks are a younger beverage category, also enjoyed by some for their flavor, and by others for the caffeine. But the popularity of energy drinks has produced some vocal opposition about caffeine levels. Unfortunately, the opposition is often uninformed on the facts. In fact, the amount of caffeine in mainstream energy drinks is moderate. To learn more, check out our caffeine comparison chart on our Web site.

This new tax on beverages would be highly regressive, and is clearly nothing more than a money grab. In today’s troubled economic times, it’s not the right time to raise taxes on hard-working families. Philadelphia is already experiencing double-digit unemployment rates. The beverage industry supports more than 2,000 good paying jobs in the Philadelphia area. It makes no sense to put even more local jobs at risk.

We, along with many others in the City of Brotherly Love, believe that now is not the time to raise prices on the items in our grocery carts. Families can’t afford to pay another penny.

We understand that Philadelphia’s budget shortfall is not to be taken lightly. But there is a better way to balance the budget than to place the financial burden on the backs of hard-working citizens. This off-season has been tough enough for Philly fans.

Innovations in recycling are truly changing the way we live. At Sip & Savor, we are strong supporters of recycling – in fact, a lot of beverage packaging is composed of recycled materials, too! We certainly hope that knowing there’s life beyond a single use inspires consumers to actively participate in recycling at home and in their communities. For more information on recycling and the many uses of recycled materials, please check out our Web site.

In light of this article, we at Sip & Savor thought we would use today’s post to respond to a few of the allegations regarding sugar as it pertains to the products made by our industry:

• First of all, let’s address HFCS – or high fructose corn syrup.  The name is really a misnomer. HFCS is not fructose nor is it high in fructose. HFCS is simply a liquid sweetener made from corn with a similar composition to sucrose – what we commonly call table sugar. You can learn more about HFCS on our products issue site or on a Web site developed by the Corn Refiners Association, SweetSurprise.com.
• When it comes to the caloric contribution of beverages to the American diet, today’s article had some outdated information. In fact, according to a National Cancer Institute of government data that was presented to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee just last year, the combined category of soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and sweetened bottled water contribute only 5.5 percent of the calories in the American diet.  That means 94.5 percent of calories come from other foods and beverages.  Assuming a 2,000 calorie diet, this means that the combined categories of beverages listed above provide about 110 calories per day – that’s less than one 12-ounce can of soda.
• Calories from beverages uniquely promote weight gain.  Myth.  So what’s the fact?  Consuming too many calories from anything, even apples, can lead to weight gain.  There is nothing unique about the calories in beverages.  What matters is balancing the calories we get from foods and beverages with those we burn through physical activity.  And if you’re trying to cut back on the calories you’re taking in, our industry provides a wide variety of no- and low-calorie options.  In fact, according to Beverage Marketing Corporation data, beverage calories in the marketplace have decreased by 21 percent over the last decade due to this innovation.
• Sugar-sweetened beverages uniquely contribute to negative health outcomes.  Again, like many foods, soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are a source of calories.  But in and of themselves, they are not a unique risk factor for obesity or other negative health outcomes, such as heart disease or diabetes.  In fact, according to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes has many known risk factors, including family history, age, weight gain, central adiposity, ethnicity and incidence of gestational diabetes – nowhere in this list of risk factors is consuming sugar-sweetened beverages.  When it comes to heart disease, the American Heart Association notes that the major risk factors are increasing age, gender (being male), genetics (including race) and being overweight.  Again, consuming sugar-sweetened beverages is not a risk factor.
• And while some try to point the finger at added sugars, saying Americans’ added sugars intake has greatly increased over time, this is simply not true.  In fact, added sugars intake has changed very little in the last 15 years or so.  This is supported by Economic Research Service data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

So where does this leave us?  Hopefully with a little more knowledge about sugars.  After all, sugar is sugar.

One element of the campaign focuses on product labeling and the significance of packaging terms. After all, as a consumer, it’s important to understand what information is readily available to you at your fingertips. With this in mind, America’s non-alcoholic beverage companies are coming together to make the calories in their products even more clear and consumer-friendly by putting the information on the front of all their packages, as well as company-controlled vending machines and fountain machines.

So take some time this month to check out the ADA’s Web site, including quizzes, advice and reading materials.