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Elizabeth Bates's BlogBLOG: 3 Reasons To Drop That Plastic Water Bottle
Green Slate (8/31/10) Are you or, ah-hem, your “friend” still a bottled-water junkie? Probably the most common defense that I hear of for this dirty little addiction is the convenience. You can find plastic bottles of water for purchase in probably more locations that you can find a skinny latte—and in San Diego, that’s pretty impressive! I’d like nothing more than to plant the seed that perhaps the price we pay for bottled water—and I’m not just talking about it in the ‘dollars and cents’ sense—may be higher than you think: 1) It’s ridiculously expensive. Let’s say gas was around $10.66/gallon at your local pump. Let’s also say that you had another option—you had a gas pump at home that costs you about .25¢/gallon. Which one would you choose? These prices1 are the actual prices of water per gallon, bottled versus filtered tap water. (If you’re comfortable with unfiltered tap water, that price plummets to .002¢/gallon!) 2) It’s no healthier than filtered tap water. Did you know that the Earth Policy Institute found that up to 40% of bottled water actually begins as tap water (not the pristine mountain stream pictured on the label)? Considering what we’re spending on these little bottles of luxury, one would expect a bit more, no? As it turns out, bottled water is less closely regulated for safety than tap water is! The best-selling water filter brand for home use removes microbiological cryptosporidium and giardia; reduces lead, TTHM, VOCs, lindane (pesticide), 2, 4-D, alachlor, atrazine (herbicide), chlorine (taste and odor) and sediment; mercury, copper, cadmium and zinc; and 96.7% of pharmaceuticals. Just to be clear, I don’t know what a lot of those things are that I just named either, which is exactly why I don’t want to drink them! 3) It’s bad news for the environment. According to the Container Recycling Institute, Americans buy an estimated 25 billion single-serving plastic water bottles annually and growing. Only 20% of these make it into the recycling bin, which means that the remaining 20 billion bottles end up in our landfills—and plastic does not biodegrade. These bottles have done enough damage before they even make it into the landfill—don’t forget there’s the process of producing the bottles originally, and then transporting them around the country! Take yourself out of the 25 billion-bottle equation above—a new equation is as simple as this: filter + reusable water bottle = healthier wallet, healthier you, healthier world.
Posted by Elizabeth Bates on Tue, Aug 31st, 2010 Last updated Tue, Aug 31st, 2010
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