Environment Action Group
Green Flash No. 38 2013
Bottled water and water bottles
We’re spending more per gallon than we would on gasoline for this thing that we can
get out of the tap virtually for free,
Bottled water is everywhere, in offices, airplanes, shops, homes and restaurants
across the country. It’s refreshing, calorie-free, convenient to carry around, tastier
than some tap water and a heck of a lot healthier than sugary sodas. But more and
more, people are questioning whether the water, and the package it comes in, is
safe, or at least safer than tap water — and if the convenience is worth the
environmental impact.
On the face of it, the supermarket water, which costs 17p for a two-litre bottle, offers
remarkable value compared with the big brands. In reality it is no more than a filtered
version of the mains water that comes out of the tap at a cost of just a third of a
penny a litre.
About 40 percent of bottled water is nothing more than bottled tap water! So not only
might you still be drinking all the chemicals you were trying to avoid in the first place,
you may be exposing yourself to even MORE chemicals by drinking from plastic
bottles…. Most of the time, the water inside the bottles has more contaminants than
regular old tap water, meaning you could be drinking some serious problems. The
EPA has more strict standards on tap water than the FDA does for bottled water,
which is something to think about when you’re thirsty!
Bottled water is destructive to the environment. It is a fact that 67 million water
bottles are thrown away each day. That's a staggering amount of waste considering
only 10 percent of these water bottles are ever recycled And it takes an incredible
amount of fuel to transport these heavy loads of plastic (and sometimes glass)
bottles to your local supermarket, home or office.
Different kinds of plastic can degrade at different times, but the average time for a
plastic bottle to completely degrade is at least 450 years. Bottles made with
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE) will never biodegrade. And there are
even more reasons to lay off the plastic bottles: about 1.5 million barrels of oil are
used every year to make the bottles,
Just thought you’d like some food (or should that be water) for thought.
(collated from various websites from UK and US)
If you want to see what some people are doing with water bottles check these out:
http://matadornetwork.com/life/plastic-fantastic-insane-ways-to-use-empty-plasticbottles/
http://www.reapscotland.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2011/04/Plastic_Bottle_Greenhouse_Instructions_2004.pdf
http://inhabitat.com/asias-first-school-made-of-plastic-bottles-is-3x-stronger-thanconcrete/
http://aliteroflight.org/#prettyPhoto/15/
http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/amazing-house-madeentirely-of-plastic-bottles-from-argentina-photos.html
The DRARA Environment Action Group aims to support practical ways
of reducing energy use and promote environmentally friendly
lifestyles. For further information about the Environment Action Group,
please contact: annaeden49@hotmail.com