Ep. 257 : “Bye Bye Blue Triton!” with Arlene Slocombe

In 2017 I interviewed Arlene Slocombe for the second time but the first time it was recorded. She was telling the story of a successful event, “Waterstock” where thousands of people came out to support Water Watchers and raise awareness of exploitive water drawing in Wellington county to be sold as bottled water. The harm to the watershed, the incredible amount of plastic garbage, another corporation not listening to their neighbours resounding “No!”, it was the continuation of a bad relationship between, at the time, Nestle, and the people of the county. Blue Triton was formed when two private equity firms bought Nestle Waters Canada with junk bonds and hugely leveraged debt. They continued Nestle’s legacy of bottling water across North American into polluting plastic bottles made from fossil fuels. This is totally unsustainable and as many markets are starting to come to understand growing more and more difficult to convince a public they are worthwhile. Blue Triton are now moving out, and may likely try and sell what’s left of the operation in hopes to recoup some of the costs. This was a huge victory for local water advocates, and I wanted to learn more so I invited Arlene back on the show to give me the scoop on what was happening and how Water Watchers ran such a successful campaign. Lots to learn here. To learn more :WaterWatchers.ca Water Watchers instagram