Take a walk, what do you see? Arrowhead, Fiji, store brand, etc. plastic water bottles littering the grass, the forest, streets and gutters, beaches. These stupid water bottles are everywhere. And what's worse is that very few are being recycled.
In the May 27, 2007 Washington Times Article, Land Full of Bottles, by Ann Geracimos, the Container Recycling Institute states that "8 out of 10 bottles become garbage and end up in a landfill rather than being recycled. "
According to, Plastic Bottles Pile up as Mountains of Waste; Americans' Thirst for Portable Water is Behind Drop in Recycling Rate, by Miguel Llanos, in the U.S. in 2003 "40 million bottles a day went into the trash or became litter."
Instead of Bottled Water...
Buy two or three durable water bottles which you can refill. Then fill them up, refrigerate or freeze, and enjoy.
When they get dirty, throw them in the dishwasher and voila. You're doing your part to save your environment.
Try Nalegene's BPA free water bottles. They come in a variety of sizes and colors and are pretty much indestructable and they will last virtually forever.
If you're still worried about the quality of your tap water, simply buy a water filter that attaches to your water faucet.
Top 10 Reasons to Stop Buying Bottled Water
1. Waste. See above, but also, consider all of the cardboard and plastic wrap used to contain the water bottles, most of which will never get recycled. Waste, waste and more waste. Nuff said.
2. Reliance on Foreign Oil. Plastic is a petroleum product. It's no wonder oil prices are skyrocketing and oil companies are making record profits.
3. Price. Bottled water is EXPENSIVE and there are zero proven health benefits to bottled water verses tap water. You're better off saving your money for retirement, your kid's college education or a really awesome vacation.
4. Toxicity. Plastic water bottles leach the toxic chemical BPA. You can't be healthy if you're in a constant state of toxicity.
5. Wasted Water. I can't tell you the number of people who start drinking a bottle of water, set it down, walk away and simply go back for another bottle. The water and the bottle now wind up in the trash. Not only that, but these people wind up going through an astonishing number of bottles each day. Waste, waste, and more waste!
6. Storage Space. Buying crates full of water bottles takes up an incredible amount of space to store.
7. Lack of Regulations. There are fewer regulations on bottled water than there are on tap water which means that your bottled water may contain more contaminents than your tap water. Check out this article in The New York Times: Fewer Regulations for Bottled Water Than Tap, GAO Says By Sara Goodman
8. Paying for and Encouraging False Advertising. Think you're drinking mountain spring water...Think again. Most bottled water starts out as municipal water. Case in point, head north on Highway 395 from Los Angeles. There, in the middle of the California desert, is one of the nation's leading producers of bottled water. They advertise that their bottled water comes from from a fresh, mountain spring. Interesting considering they are in the middle of the desert. Think about it.
9. Setting a Bad Example. Like it or not, kids look to adults for guidance. Shoot, even other adults turn to their friends and family in search of positive role models. When you are wasteful, it teaches others that it is wasteful and our landfills grow as does the trash we see when we hike, bike, walk, garden, drive, etc.
10. Negative Feelings Like Guilt, Shame and Self Loathing. You know buying bottled water is wasteful. You know you shouldn't do it. Just knowing this makes you feel guilty and ashamed and perhaps lazy and loathful. These negative feelings help fuel depression and lack of motivation.
Finally
Be positive, do something good for yourself, those around you and the environment by using a reusable water bottle. As the saying goes, "Reduce, reuse, recycle."
If you see water bottles lying around, please pick them up and return them to a recycling facility.
Copyright 2009 Amy Giaquinto
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