Water Bottle Pollution

Many families in the U.S. purchase a case or two of bottled water a week. According to an article in National Geographic plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months. People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic. Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into useful items (e.g. carpeting or fleece clothing) Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. It is estimated that plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate. Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change. Remember - Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.