Kool-Aid's Pollution Policies Don't Paint A Pretty Pitcher

Kool-Aid's Vancouver refinery is responsible for producing and exporting 620 metric tonnes of lemon-flavoured drink crystals every year.

The controversial Kool-Aid crystal plant lies on the shores of Burrard Inlet at the mouth of Canada's largest Western seaport. The Vancouver outlet is solely responsible for refining the lemon-flavoured drink crystals for the instant soft beverage giant.

Raw drink crystals are mined in the Northern region of Bella Coola (nicknamed Bella "Kool-Aid") and brought to the port facility to be refined, before being shipped off in barges to the packaging and processing center in Alameda, California.

The refinery is generating millions of dollars in the British Columbia region, but there are several ecological factors which are raising concerns to the residents of the coastal Canadian community. While Kool-Aid®, the drink, costs merely pennies per glass, Kool-Aid, the kompany, may be costing the region much more.

"We're not all screaming 'Oh Yahhh!' ", saidCherry Boisson, environmentalist. "There are enough tangy lemon particulates floating in our air on a given day to choke a sugar bear. The atmosphere is always thick with a tart, yellowy cloud. It gets on your clothes, in your eyes, and you end up crying salty citrus Kool-Aid tears."

Kool-Aid slag, an inedible molten by-product of the refining process, continues to fill local landfills. Lemon Lung plagues workers like a bad cough. And Kool-Aid pollutants empty into the seas every time it rains, creating megalitres of lemon slurry, useless to consume even when suitable amounts of sugar are added. The sludge makes its way into the sea where it is often seen floating on the ocean surface or clinging to beds of eco-sensitive kelp.

The economic benefits of having a major food producer in the region are substantial, but the detrimental environmental effects are painting a poor pitcher for the Kool-Aid people. One group was trying to have the refinery shut down for health violations, but sadly their organization dissolved shortly after a failed demonstration led to several arrests in front of the Hawaiian Punch factory in Honolulu.

This is not the first time that Kool-Aid has stirred up trouble in Canada.

In 1997, a drink crystal-laden barge destined for San Francisco sank at the mouth of the inlet, causing untold ecological damage. Fortunately, fishermen were able to salvage the situation somewhat, catching and marketing tons of inadvertently-marinated lemon-herb salmon, reducing somewhat, the extent of the damage.