These days, pretty much anywhere you go no matter which way you turn, someone has one in their hands. The dreaded plastic bottle that seems so hard to leave one’s side is on the rise.
Plastic bottles are used to store a variety of liquids but more often we see them used to carry water. It seems strange that we as consumers are buying bottled water when we can just go into our kitchens and get our water for free, so what’s the difference?
Bottled water companies encourage consumers to think that their product is purer and much safer than regular tap water. In reality, these companies are mining water all around the country, bottling it, shipping it and then selling it right back to us. They are brainwashing consumers. 40 percent of bottled water is just filtered tap water. You can filter your own tap water and not spend all that money while consuming so much waste in the process!
Some might say that plastic bottles are not a problem because we recycle, well only 20 percent of all plastic beverage containers are being recycled in America, so the rest of it ends up in our streams, rivers and oceans. 50 percent of Americans do not have curbside recycling, and only 11 states have state deposit laws. If more states imposed the state deposit laws, or “bottle bills,” then recycling programs would be funded and consumers would get money back when they returned recyclables. Its too bad Pennsylvania doesn’t have a state deposit law.
Most people don’t link plastic bottles to oil, sort of an out of sight out of mind type of thing. Plastic bottles are made from PET or polyethylene terephthalate, which is a petroleum product manufactured from oil. 714 million gallons of oil are used every year to make ingredients used to make plastic bottles. We all know oil is a nonrenewable energy source, and we can just imagine the amount of air pollution that comes out of these oil companies.
Perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of the water bottle industry is that the Food and Drug Administration does not require testing on the water. Whereas the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is required to test the tap water and make the results available to the public, so really your tap water is just as safe, if not better, than bottled water.
The water bottle industry is as unsustainable as it gets, and it is taking a heavy toll on our environment. Oil refineries are polluting our air and contaminating ground water due to leaks. Streams and lakes are lowering due to water pumping affecting wildlife. Plastic bottles are everywhere, and our bodies of water are severely being threatened. If we eliminate bottled water, we eliminate one of the biggest problems facing our environment. Be a mindful consumer, and stop buying bottled water today!
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