It's interesting when plastics-related stories win journalism awards, in part because the reports tend to spawn similar stories in other media. So I'll note today one of the winners in the 2008 Gerald Loeb Awards for business journalism.

The first place award for feature writing went to Charles Fishman of Fast Company for his report, "Message in a Bottle." Here's what the news release announcing the winners had to say about the story:

Fishman took on a product that has become ubiquitous in everyday life -- plastic bottles of water -- and showed how wasteful this industry can actually be. At a time when so much attention is placed on protecting the environment, the story presents a thought-provoking argument about how consumers are sacrificing their ideals of a "green" society for the sake of convenience. Fishman's work was wonderfully crafted, combining great storytelling with compelling statistics to prove a powerful point.

For more detail, check out Fishman's report online here.