Hopefully if you’re at this site and reading this you are well aware of the alternatives to using disposable bottles and recycle the ones you do. The advent of bottled water sent our already wasteful consumer culture into pollution overdrive and it’s a tremendous task to put the brakes on the momentum of this waste. Here is a list of plastic bottle fun facts that put the magnitude of this pollution into scope.
- Plastic bottles take 700 years to begin composting
- 90% of the cost of bottled water is due to the bottle itself
- 80% of plastic bottles are not recycled
- 38 million plastic bottles go to the dump per year in America from bottled water (not including soda)
- 24 million gallons of oil are needed to produce a billion plastic bottles
- The average American consumes 167 bottles of water a year
- Bottling and shipping water is the least energy efficient method ever used to supply water
- Bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the United States
Although it can be easy and convenient to pick up bottle beverage products the end cost to the environment is staggering. So be mindful when you drink…and remember, friends don’t let friends drink from disposables!
Doug, change the spelling of “breaks” to “brakes” - the first is lunch, the second save your life.
Hiya
Great article and awesome photo!
We’re currently running a ‘pledge and win’ competition over on our site. One of the prizes is a reusable bottle and set of stickers from the fabulous We Want Tap site. The comp is open to worldwide entrants, so if you think you can reduce your waste in some way (one of the pledges is to start using a reusable bottle) then why not head over and try your chances?
All you have to do is pledge, carry out the action and comment back on our site - you have until 7th September to do this!
Click on our homepage and look for ‘pledge and win’ across the top menus
Thanks Ben.
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/teen-decomposes.html
This will help.
human is waste generator. think before you drink!
Damn! Thanks for the perspective. Meanwhile, a great way to divert more of these from the waste stream is getting products made from recycled water bottles. I recently got a messenger bag from Act2GreenSmart, and nevermind that it’s made from rPET, it’s a damn fine bag! Check them out at http://www.act2greensmart.com
Great facts about the environmental impact. If you know, I’d love to hear more about the health effects - especially of re-use of plastic bottles, and how quickly they get dirty. Sometimes having the health and environmental impacts together makes a really compelling case.
Very interesting
What irony to see a plastic FIJI water advertisement placed to the right by Google! Sad.
That is sickening
What are the alternatives? Lets say, for a high school that uses an outrageous amount of plastic bottles, how can this be resolved?
of course this is an important question, that schools and other institutions are grappling with.
but i hope everyone can take a step back and see it within the greater perspective as a silly question all the same. we haven’t had this epidemic for very long, the past 15-20 years– and we got along fine for thousands of years!
humans– quick to adapt, quick to forget. let’s get back to adapting!
hey great pics and i like them.Anyway i also think that plastic bottling sucks and should be ban at once.
Consider also the impact of shipping the water via truck. Not just water, but all soda, coke, pepsi, etc. Water is an incredibly heavy load, 62 lb/cu ft, and a truck full of it consumes fuel and tires, and increases deterioration of roads and space. In an urban setting, a trailer truck commands a large amount of space both while driving and when parked and loading/unloading. Not to mention the effect a giant diesel truck painted with obnoxious slogans has on quality of place.
Then, consider the soft drinks that add more tons of sugar to power our kids and divert corn crops from use for food. (check out how many things contain high fructose corn syrup. Rather, try to find something that doesn’t contain it).
All in all, there are so many things wrong with this it makes my head spin.
Buy glass and recycle it morons.
who invented this idea - they should get an ass kicking
Plastic bottles are an example of an opportunity to apply “cradle to cradle” thinking to design. By definition, a plastic bottle is only useful as long as it contains a drink. It’s usefulness is obsolete as soon as the drink is consumed. Every drink manufacturer knows this, so you’d think they’d incorporate this knowledge into the initial design of the bottle. Here’s a like to some people who’ve invented bottles that can be used as building blocks as soon as they have been emptied of drink: http://www.popsci.com/node/21013
Plastic bottles are a problem…not just water bottles…all plastic bottles. Enso Bottles is an environmental company, we saw that plastic bottles were a problem and developed a biodegradable plastic bottle that biodegrades in a landfill environment. Plastic that is recycled will someday come to end of its useful life and will have to be burned or dumped into a landfill where it will languish forever.
Corn based plastics (PLA) can help but they can only be composted in a commercial composting site. PLA that ends up in a landfill doesn’t biodegrade…it will languish along with other plastics for generations.
Enso’s biodegradable plastic can be recycled and when it ends up in a landfill it will biodegrade into biogases and humus.
Enso isn’t the end all answer but it is a step in the right direction.
Max
Ensobottles.com
THERE IS A COMMERCIAL RUNNING FOR A THERMOS TYPE BOTTE AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO REUSING PLASTIC BOTTLES. THEY CLAIM THAT PLASTIC BOTTLES HAVE DANGEROUS TOXIN IN THEM THAT CAUSE CANCER. IS THIS TRUE???
THANKS, HANK
I read the article and im doing a school project on this!!!!!
This is almost scary- not just the numbers and figures, but the realization that most of the world wouldn’t be surprised by this, and STILL don’t care enough to take the simple step of buying a reusable bottle. They’re even pretty cool- pretty colors, etc. You’d think the one thing powerful enough to overcome people’s laziness would be a fashion trend, but apparently even that isn’t strong enough.
What we CAN do is put as much of the existing resources as we can into changing things. This site provides some info on groups working on the issue: http://www.greatnonprofits.org/green
Go to: Element304.com
Very informative article. Maybe companies should stop bottling liquids in plastics and use plastic bottles for things that will last. Maybe bottle essential oils in plastic, or make plastics bottles easier to recycle and reuse. What do you suggest are some of the best ways to reuse plastic bottles?
I think the reason why so many bottles dont get recycled is because there are no places to dispose of them, except maybe back at home. I suppose if there were public recycling bins then it might help improve the situation.
Crazy how 90% of the cost is on the bottles…
-Jack
whoa thats awesome!
Ivan - here is a report from Harvard School of Public Health found Plastic bottles leach chemical BPA into water under normal cond. BPA is linked to diabetes, heart, & reproductive issues - http://tr.im/riZC
Doug - I love this facts on plastic bottles. Do u have source for them? Would love to see it - steve@acleanlife.org
Wonderful website, I genuinely discovered it to be good. I’m looking forward to visiting again to see what’s recent.
i need ideas for a science fair project. the topic is how i could invent somthing to make the environment greener. oh and it has to be realistic and im 12 years old so dont make it to hard…. pleae reply