Plastic Bottle Waste and the Environment

When it comes to protecting the environment, water use and conservation should definitely be one of the top priorities on everyone's green to-do list. Even though water is the most abundant resource on our planet, only about 1% of this water is actually clean enough for drinking. That means the majority of the water we use on a daily basis must still be treated and transported for us in order to provide easy access to clean water. When it comes to quality drinking water we have two options, filtered tap water or bottled water. Filtered tap water is clearly the more eco-friendly choice for a variety of reasons.

You Drink Water Bottled from Exotic Locales THOUSANDS of Miles Away?
HELLO? Do you know how much Water Weighs?

It starts with production and distribution. If you drink expensive spring/mineral water bottled at the source, it probably traveled thousands of miles using hundreds of gallons of fuel to get to you. If you drink purified bottled water, it is usually treated tap water produced domestically using activated carbon and reverse osmosis. Regardless of the source, bottled water needs to be packaged in plastic bottles and delivered by ships and trucks to retail stores. Since plastic is made primarily of petroleum and delivery trucks also consume oil, it becomes clear that bottled water consumption leaves a much larger carbon footprint than home filtration systems which purify drinking water directly at your faucet through existing water lines.

The Pacific Institute, a California-based organization, estimates that the total amount of energy required for every bottle of water -- from making the bottle to transporting, cooling and disposing of the empties -- "is equivalent, on average, to filling a plastic bottle one-quarter full with oil."

Bottled Water is very heavy to transport!

Even towards the end of it's product life-cycle, bottled water continues to burden our natural environment. Of the 22 billion plastic bottles Americans throw away every year, only about 30% ever gets recycled. The other 15 billion bottles will end up in landfills or our local waterways and may eventually find its way out to sea. Once there, it can take up to hundreds of years to decompose all the while collecting toxins from the water and poisoning marine wildlife that consume the plastic pellets mistaking it for food. This will ultimately affect the entire food chain and eco-system of the oceans which will surely have dire consequences for future generations. Even if we wanted to clean up the oceans today, it would easily cost billions of dollars just to clear a small portion of the the existing pollution in the Pacific ocean. Imagine what the costs will be for our kids in another 20 years!

Doesn't Water Filter Cartridges Use Plastic Too?

That is a good question. When you purchase a water filter for your home, it too uses plastics in its replaceable filter cartridges but the amount of discarded material is much much less compared with daily bottled water consumption. Plus, filter cartridges always end up in landfills unlike plastic bottles which often make its way out to open sea from rivers, storm drains, and our local beaches. Water filter cartridges are also made of high density polypropylene which is a sturdy heat resistant plastic that does not leach chemicals into water. Bottled water companies use polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polycarbonates which are all lower grade plastics that can leach chemicals into water.

Drinking bottled water is a practice that is very inefficient and bad for the environment. There is no reason to have bottled water processed, packaged and shipped to retail stores only to have it then transported again by the consumer to their homes. With a quality water filtration system, people can get clean drinking water directly from the kitchen faucet at a fraction of the price of bottled water while also protecting the environment. It's a definite WIN-WIN situation.

To learn more about the terrible effects of plastic bottles on our planet, please visit this site. Great Pacific Garbage Patch