8 SodaStream = SodaAwesome

Joe drinks a lot of pop (soda to you folks in the US). Like a lot of it. I'm talking at least a case (of 24) a week. I on the other hand don't enjoy it as much and I really wanted to cut back on how much I drank (maybe a few cans a week). Last year I got tired of all the waste (and the money being spent) and looked into options. I was excited when I saw a SodaStream on sale around Christmas time and I knew I just had to get it for Joe. He was a disbeliever at first. You wouldn't believe the number of times I heard 'there is no way this is going to taste like real pop'. It took 1 sip for him to be hooked. Yes it tastes just like the major brand names only it is better for the environment and will save you money.

In the last 6 months we have used 1 canister (it lasted exactly 6 months with daily use) and 4 flavour syrups. We estimate that we saved 624 cans and 26 cardboard cases of pop so far this year. The only waste we have had is the cardboard that the machine came in and the small plastic shrink wrap that goes around the top of the CO2 canister and the top of the flavour bottles. The cardboard was recycled but unfortunately the plastic wrap was not recyclable. The plastic containers the flavours come in we will be reusing. 

We have also saved a lot of water by using our SodaStream instead of buying pop. It is estimated that it takes 2.43 litres of water to produce 1 litre of pop. 1 litre of that goes into the product itself and the other 1.43 litres is used as part of the manufacturing process. There are roughly 2.8 cans of pop in a litre which means that if we had continued to buy cans these last 6 months our water footprint would have been 542 litres of water. I estimate we have probably used 130 litres of water making our SodaStream pop which is a savings of 412 litres of water. 

SodaStream machines do not use any electricity to operate. This means they are perfect for on the go. We recently took ours camping with us and it was awesome. It took up significantly less room than cans of pop and produced zero waste. 

I said before that the flavours taste just like the name brands and it is true. My favourite is Pete's Choice (AKA Dr. Pepper). We have also bought Cola, Ginger Ale and Root Beer. I received a sample pack to test some additional flavours and so far we have tried Orange and Grapefruit. Both are excellent. 

I highly recommend getting your hands on a SodaStream. We got ours mostly because of the environmental impact but the financial savings are also a great benefit. From now until August 15th you can buy the Green Fizz model and receive 10% off your purchase. Purchase here and use the coupon code greenfizz2012. It is an upgraded version from the one we have (we have the Genesis model) as ours does not have the Interactive Fizz Chip that allows you to monitor the amount of fizz you put into every bottle and the amount of amount of CO2 remaining in your canister. Plus hello it is a pretty green colour!

* I am part of a SodaStream affiliate program. I receive money for every machine purchased through my affiliate link until August 15th. I also received flavours to test. The SodaStream machine we use is our own that we purchased last year.

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