Waste: More than 40% of the bottled water on the market is just filtered tap water that you get to pay extra money for. Is it better for you, of course not! Now if you lived in a 3rd world county, OK. But for us that don’t it is just not a good value. Gasoline is cheaper per gallon. A gallon of gas costs around $3. If we assume a one-liter bottle of water from the store costs about $1.50, a gallon of the same bottled water should cost about $6.
Waste: Have you ever walked the beach in the early morning before the tractors clean it up for the tourist? It is a mess with plastic bottles and manmade junk. We are currently only recycling 15% of the water bottles that are used. The rest of the 86% are going to the land fill, floating on to the beaches and found just about every place you look.
If you add the other green factors like we use 47 Million gallons of oil per year to product these bottles and have nothing but 1.5 million tons of plastic waste from it per year then, why are we buying the plastic water bottles again? It is killing mother earth and not making us healthier in return.
Waste: Is your health is at risk? Plastic water bottles are made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) as well as DEHA (di-ethylhexl adipate) which is used to produce PET. These are deemed safe as long as the plastic does not get too hot. Remember that these bottles are stored in warehouses, transported on a hot truck and then most likely stored in a hot garage until you use them. How hot is too hot? Well no straight answer on that, but do you really know how hot the bottle got before you purchased it? We are dealing with a possible risk of cancer and I know I do not want to take that risk over something that costs more and gives nothing in return over standard tap water. I leave you with this thought, pre World War II toothpaste tubes were made of lead and we thought nothing of it. Looking back it seems obvious to us now is this plastic topic going to be the same?
I hope this has shed some light on bottled water and you can make an educated decision.
Green Tip- Remember to save water today; a great way to start to save water is with a Dual Flush toilet Conversion kit for your standard toilet.
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