The Lions Club of Kingsville focuses on the environment as one of its areas of service. This week, they look at the impact of bottled water on our environment.
People buy plastic single-use water bottles for a variety of reasons, including the convenience of staying hydrated while out and about.
Smart marketing methods have made people believe that bottled water is cleaner and better tasting than tap water. In reality, bottled water is often just tap water, and according to the Harvard Developments website tap water makes up about 40% of the bottled water being sold today.
A recent article in Slate suggested that consumers are paying 300 times the cost of tap water to drink bottled water. It named the United States as the biggest bottled water drinkers on the planet, consuming about 61.4 billion gallons a year.
One must ask how many of those bottles end up in landfills or in our oceans?
While they can be convenient, plastic bottles are also costly to manufacture. Made by melting plastic pellets, the process requires a lot of energy which adds to carbon emissions.
The Healthy Humans website points out that it takes three times the amount of water to manufacture one plastic bottle as it takes to fill it. What a waste of clean water, one of our most precious resources!
There is also the risk of potentially harmful chemicals in the plastic that can leach from the bottles into the drinking water which, when ingested, could cause illness.
In truth, bottled water in general has no proven benefits to your health.
So, while bottled water is still considered a go-to drink option, trends are changing and many people want a healthier, more eco-friendly solution.
What can we do to help the environment? Consider buying reusable water bottles. Metal and glass are alternatives, and some are even available with built-in water filters.
Image by fotoblend from Pixabay
Yes, plastic water bottles are very wasteful in so many ways. Why buy water in plastic bottles when we already have safe drinking water in our taps? I use refillable metal containers when leaving home.
Thank you very much, and it is nice to see that this is the truth!
My wonderful Husband of 34-years used to refill bottles from a 24-pk, and put them into the fridge.
Now that our children are grown (33 & 25), he keeps a bottle for water, and he refreshes it when necessary!
His 61st birthday is on 15-Feb-2022 (1961), and I would love to get him a reusable water bottle.
Bless your heart for putting this in print, as I’m sure that you are well aware that makers of bottled water use their sales tactics harshly, making people wonder if they are doing the right thing or not.
Going forward, I can continue to say, “It’s just tap water,” and not be offended if someone is not pleased with what I have said.
Tap water is great, and you can toss in a few additional ice cubes whenever you need, and you have your hydration for life.
KUDOS!