Water Bottle Waste “One of the biggest challenges facing the bottled water industry is how to respond to the environmental claims levelled against it” (Grocer). Every time someone throws a bottle away, they have taken up more space in a landfill for the next four hundred fifty to one thousand years. Besides the long decomposition rate, water bottles are the cause of several more environmental issues. Overfilling landfills, health hazards caused by refilling, and the economic stresses due to the constant and inconvenient repurchasing are just a few of the negatives water bottles have on us. These plastic pollutants are doing more harm to both the environment and their users than good. The water bottle industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. This being said, our landfills are filled with more than eighty five percent of plastic bottles. Their long lifetime and thoughtless consumers are not only filing our dumps with these plastic bottles, but hurting our oceans too. Since water bottles do not biodegrade, they can float aimlessly on the ocean surface for years. They also may cause a passing predator to be fooled into thinking it is a resting prey. Little did that predator know, they were going to have a serious stomach ache trying to digest a plastic bottle. It also pollutes the soil and waterways as well. Besides the space water bottles physically fill, their production waste is just as dire. In America alone, we use about seventeen
We’ll start with how bottled water means more garbage. Most people, after drinking bottled water throw away the bottle instead of recycling it. This is why 70 million percent of human waste are bottles from water. Plus, a lot of times when you drive down the road the most occasional thing you’ll see are bottles. So, if your going to drink from a bottle then recycle
There are many impacts that bottled water has on the environment. The choice of packaging determines many impacts. The bottles, which are either plastic, aluminum, or glass, that are not recycled are thrown into landfills and buried. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86% of plastic water bottles in the United States become garbage. If water bottlers would have used 10% recycled materials in their plastic bottles in 2004, they would have saved the equivalent of 72 million gallons of gasoline. If they used 25%, they would have saved enough energy to power more than 680,000 homes for a year (Jemmott, 2008). Incinerating used bottles produces toxins such as chlorine gas and ash. Water bottles that get buried can take up to thousands of years to biodegrade. The most common type of plastic is polyethylene
Michael Hiltzik’s first section of the article is especially important for individuals to know about. I agree 100% with his opinion on bottle water. There are many environmental dangers and unnecessary expenses for bottled water. Countless people don’t discard of their bottled waters in the recycling or trash bin. Eventually, these plastic dangers end up in the ocean and may put marine life in jeopardy.
Water bottle may be hurting the environment and helping it at the same, in theses articles there talking about different things about water bottles. To begin, The article Water, water Everywhere--in bottles by Mike Esterl talked about the different brands of water bottles and if it's better than some soda companies. Also about there prices. The article uses a lot of Logos because there using a lot of facts
From helping the daily jogger stay hydrated during a run to that mom and family trying to stay hydrated at the amusement park, bottled water has had a lot of good to it. However do those goods outweigh the bad? In “Bottled Water: Friend or Foe?” by Christopher Castillo, Diana Goettsch, Angela Reid, and Catherine Sterling argue bottled water are our worst enemy, reasons being the bottle itself has harming chemicals within it which we are drinking, bottled water damages our environment, and lastly we are spending more on bottled water when we have the same water coming from our sinks.
The individual components of the bottled water supply chain that contribute significantly to the industry 's carbon footprint are apparent in the entire process of creating bottled water. During extraction and production oil is used to create the plastic bottles. Then energy is required to ship the bottles across the globe. Lastly, disposal of the bottles is an issue as the majority of them ends up in landfills in which they will remain for thousands of years, or they are put into incinerators which releases toxins into the air.
(Ban the Bottle, 2014) In the previous year, the average American used approximately 167 disposable water bottles but only recycled 38. (Ban the Bottle, 2014) Statistics collected by the Health Research Funding organization illustrate that only 1 in 5 water bottles are recycled while the other four contribute to the 3 billion pounds of waste from plastic water bottles. (HRF, 2014) Depending on the size and volume, the cost of bottled water usually covers packaging, advertising, shipping and administrative processes. (HRF, 2014) If an individual purchases water bottles often, the cost accumulates and mass waste is produced but if one were to purchase a reusable bottle, hundreds of dollars can be saved in a year while also keeping the landfills and waste bins clear of plastic bottles and caps. (Ban the Bottle,
Water bottles are a staple in today’s society. In his article, “Costly water: Bottled and Sold: The History Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water,” author Martin W. Lewis quotes Peter H. Gleick when he says that, “Consumers buy bottled water for four main reasons: safety, taste, style, and convenience,” and he’s absolutely right (Par. 9). Bottled water is cleaner, healthier, and more convenient than tap water. More people are more apt to grab a bottle of water on the go, rather than fill a reusable bottle from the sink. It’s just easy. At least, that’s what we are led to believe. Bottled water is constantly in battle with its not-so-lavish counterpart, tap water. Some will even argue that the benefits of bottled water alone outweigh the cost. They, however, do not. The fact is, water bottles have plagued society for years and have become a growing menace to our environment and our people.
In 2004, Americans, on average, drank 24 gallons of bottled water, making it second only to carbonated soft drinks in popularity (Standage). In the article “Plastic Water Bottles Causing Flood or Harm to the Environment,” the Earth Policy Institute factors the energy used to pump, process, transport, and refrigerate bottled water as over 50 million barrels of oil every year (Schriever). It’s absurd that so many resources are used to make plastic bottles which are not necessary at all. Bottled water does allow us to drink water out of it but in reality bottled water is very bad for
According to Sarah, “86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter. Also, Water bottles buried in landfills can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. The bottles leak toxic additives, such as phthalates, into the ground water” (Joe, pg 1). Also, every year 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to make the bottle
Plastic water bottles are considered one of the healthiest beverages you can find in any shop. But are they really all that healthy for the environment, or is there a fine line between a plastic bottled water drink and what’s best for everyone? Let’s take a look at bottled water from the very start to find out. To manufacture plastic bottles, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used, and to produce PET, crude oil and natural gas is required. If one fills a plastic water bottle 1/4th full with oil, they will be looking at how much oil was used to make that one bottle, so how much oil does it take to make all of America’s water bottles? According to the Pacific Institute, in 2006, making plastic water bottles
“Eighty-six percent of water bottles end up in landfills or in the ocean” (Sexton & Morley). The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) tested over 1,000 bottles of water to find out what kind of water was really in the bottle (Jemmott). They found out that an estimated 25% or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle (Olson). It is sometimes treated more, sometimes not. Also the NRDC tested water for contaminants. Most didn’t have any but 22% of the brands contained chemical contaminants (Olson). Most of these chemicals were strict above the state health limits. If the water inside the bottle becomes contaminated the producers don’t have to let the consumers know. Although many people believe plastic bottles are convenient, nevertheless they can extremely harm you because of the chemicals in the plastic and is also causing harm to the earth.
Plastic water bottles are seen and consumed everywhere. Without knowing the deadly effects that water bottles have on the environment, consumers will keep buying them and contribute to the problem. About 17 million barrels of oil are used each year solely to make water bottles
Additionally, The destruction from the bottle water industry does not only play with our wallets. But it also creates issues with the world that we reside in. Our environment is being destroyed by the second right before our eyes. Our lakes, beaches, rivers and every other water system there is, is slowly ruining due to the plastic bottled waters we are purchasing and throwing threw out carelessly without thinking or caring about the consequences we are having to deal with across the world. There are more and more areas that we probably have no idea about that do not even have water. There are more places that we may think or believe that are suffering water droughts. The bottled water industry is causing a lot of destruction and a lot of people don’t realize it or better yet, thought about it. The industry is growing tremendously
Bottled water people would say is the convenient water, there is much more to water bottles than its convention transportation. Some come about as biodegradable. Nowadays people have concern for helping the environment, that's the way aforementioned endemic should be. Water bottles being made from plastic, this does not succor the environment.“Compostable water bottles made from plant products, without petroleum, are already coming onto the market.”(Charles Fager, 2) People may say that with biodegradable ingredients they will make the prices higher.”BW in these containers is on sale in some areas.”(Charles Fager, 2) I guess not.