The typical individual in the USA consumes more than 45 gallons of bottled water per year, for a complete of 60 billion water bottles a year. 9 out of 10 People now count on bottled water to be out there wherever different drinks are bought, in accordance with a survey conducted for the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) by The Harris Ballot.
Right here’s why that’s horrible information, and why you must give up ingesting bottled water right now…
Bottles Dripping in Oil
Do you know that, yearly, the equivalent of 17 million barrels of oil are used to provide plastic water and soda bottles within the U.S.—not together with transportation? Or that bottling water produces greater than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide per yr?
What an unbelievable waste of assets and a silly menace to the local weather—all for a bottle you utilize as soon as and throw away!
The extra we squander what little accessible oil we’ve on actually silly issues like single-use plastic bottles, the extra we’ve to acquire from different international locations or dangerously and expensively drill out of pristine ecosystems.
Given all of the struggle, corruption and environmental devastation brought on around the globe by the demand for oil, that is neither politically nor environmentally sustainable.
Something we are able to do to shortly and completely part out disposable plastic bottles would assist enhance our relationship with the folks residing in oil and gas-rich nations, cut back financial and environmental waste at house, and ease the burden that extracting and burning fossil fuels locations on communities and ecosystems worldwide.
The Value of Comfort
A 2021 study in the journal Science of the Total Environment in contrast the well being and environmental advantages of bottled water, faucet water, and filtered faucet water within the metropolis of Barcelona, Spain, the place bottled water is gaining popularity. The outcomes had been overwheming: Faucet water is best than bottled water, each for folks and for the planet.
Researchers discovered that if your complete inhabitants of Barcelona determined to drink bottled water as an alternative of faucet water, it could price $83.9 million per yr to extract the uncooked supplies wanted for bottles, which might destroy 1.43 species per yr. In comparison with faucet water, that’s 3,500 instances the associated fee, 2,000 instances the power, and 1,400 instances the affect on ecosystems.
Plastic Bottles are Down-Cycled, Not Recycled
“The bottled water trade says appropriately, however misleadingly, that the plastic the water is available in is recyclable,” says Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute. “It’s deceptive, as a result of recyclable is just not the identical factor as recycled.”
Only 8.7% of plastic water bottles consumed in the USA are recycled, that means that about 91% leads to the rubbish or littering the streets.
Even the minority of bottles that do get recycled are merely down-cycled. In different phrases, after yet another incarnation, they’ll find yourself within the landfill (or as litter) anyway.
Subsequent to plastic baggage, plastic bottles are essentially the most prevalent (and unpleasant) supply of air pollution discovered on our seashores and shores. Annually, over 500 billion disposable bottles and cups find yourself littering our soil, rivers, lakes and oceans, killing numerous fish and animals. The unhappy picture above is turning into all-too-common at lakes, rivers and seashores throughout the U.S.
Based on Gleick:
“There isn’t any comparability with the environmental footprint of bottled water. After all, the plastic footprint is identical as it’s with different drinks which are available in bottles. However that argument is disingenuous, as a result of for bottled water the choice isn’t soda, it’s faucet water. And the environmental footprint of bottled water vastly exceeds the environmental footprint of low-cost, high-quality faucet water. It’s not even shut.”
The Water Footprint of Bottled Water
On the most elementary degree, it takes 3 liters of water to provide 1 liter of bottled water, according to the Pacific Institute. In different phrases, earlier than even including up the power wanted to provide the precise bottles—which is significant—bottled water was already 3 times as inefficient as faucet water.
However when NPR appeared carefully at this concern, it discovered that they examine failed to think about the whole chain of waste that goes into producing and promoting bottled drinks:
Based on Ertug Ercin with the Water Footprint Network, bottled water firms (together with many different beverage firms) ought to embrace the water of their provide chain. A real water footprint contains all freshwater utilized in manufacturing, together with the water used for packaging and transportation.
“Packaging makes a big footprint,” Ercin says, including that three liters of water is perhaps used to make a half-liter bottle. In different phrases, the quantity of water going into making the bottle might be as much as six or seven instances what’s contained in the bottle.
Drilling for oil to make plastic, Ercin says, makes use of a considerable quantity of groundwater. And also you want water to make the paper labels, too, he provides. Placing all of it collectively, from cradle to grave, it really takes about 6 liters of water to make 1 liter of bottled water.
Bottled Water is No Safer Than Faucet Water
Though many individuals consider bottled water to be more healthy than faucet water, the reality is, the federal authorities doesn’t mandate that bottled water be any safer than faucet water. The truth is, the chemical pollution standards are nearly identical.
Faucet water can be tested more frequently than bottled water. A whole lot of the bottled water bought within the U.S. is just filtered water from our municipal water systems—the identical place our faucet water comes from.
Even worse, whereas most public water utilities are required to reveal their testing outcomes to the general public yearly, bottled water firms usually are not required to launch their testing information to the general public in any respect, besides within the state of California, the place a minimal of knowledge is required. So for those who purchase bottled water, you simply can’t be certain of what you’re getting.
In depth analysis finished by The Environmental Working Group (EWG) discovered 38 contaminants in 10 popular brands of bottled water, together with disinfection byproducts, industrial chemical substances, arsenic, fertilizer residue and ache medicine.
Separate testing finished by the Pure Sources Protection Council additionally discovered many contaminants in bottled water. In a study of more than one hundred bottled water brands, one-third of the manufacturers examined had no less than one pattern that exceeded beneficial ranges for micro organism and/or chemical contaminants.
It’s clear that confidence within the purity and security of bottled water is essentially unjustified, and in lots of circumstances the trade could also be delivering a beverage no cleaner than filtered faucet water—however bought at a 2,000 instances the associated fee.
Associated:
Poison within the Plastic
Plastic beverage bottles are made out of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) polymer. Based on the EPA, poisonous pollution, together with styrene, butadiene and methanol are launched into the air throughout its manufacturing—for all of us to inhale.
And air air pollution is an ongoing by-product of plastic bottles as they’re made, crammed, packaged and transported to customers.
Based on the National Resources Defense Council:
In 2006, the equal of two billion half-liter bottles of water had been shipped to U.S. ports, creating hundreds of tons of world warming air pollution and different air air pollution. In New York Metropolis alone, the transportation of bottled water from western Europe launched an estimated 3,800 tons of world warming air pollution into the environment. In California, 18 million gallons of bottled water had been shipped in from Fiji in 2006, producing about 2,500 tons of world warming air pollution.
From creation to disposal, these bottles contribute to air air pollution. And lots of the chemical substances that go into their manufacturing proceed to leach out into the air and into the water they maintain.
If the menace to our pure assets weren’t sufficient, there may be additionally overwhelming proof of opposed well being results tied to poisonous chemical substances that leach from the plastic bottles into the water we drink.
Antimony
PET is the plastic used for water and smooth drink bottles, mouthwash bottles, containers for condiments like nut butters and ketchup, and TV dinner trays. PET is taken into account secure, however it could possibly really leach the poisonous metallic antimony, which is used throughout its manufacture.
One study that checked out 63 manufacturers of bottled water produced in Europe and Canada discovered concentrations of antimony that had been greater than 100 instances the everyday degree present in clear groundwater.
The examine additionally discovered that the longer a PET bottle sits on the shelf—in a grocery retailer, your pantry, or your automobile—the better the quantity of antimony current. It is usually thought that the quantity of antimony leaching from these PET bottles will increase the extra they’re uncovered to daylight, increased temperatures, and ranging pH ranges.
Bromine
Brominated compounds have additionally been found to leach into PET bottles. Bromine displaces iodine within the physique, and is a central nervous system depressant. It could actually accumulate over time, and set off well being issues.
Microplastics
Microplastic contamination can be frequent in bottled water. Microplastics are tiny particles of plastic that leach into liquid or meals from the container they’re housed in. Though extra analysis is required to know the consequences of microplastic ingestion, research counsel that chemical substances like BPA, antimony, and different endocrine disruptors present in microplastics is perhaps dangerous to human well being.
In a 2018 examine, eleven globally sourced manufacturers of bottled water, bought in 19 places in 9 totally different international locations, were tested for microplastic contamination. Of the 259 whole bottles processed, 93% confirmed some signal of microplastic contamination.
The Healthiest Possibility: A Reusable Bottle
There may be nothing more healthy for you, your pockets, and the planet than filtered faucet water in a reusable bottle. (How to choose a good water filter.)
Most bottled waters manufacturers comprise nothing greater than filtered faucet water anyway, so a superb filter in your faucet water at house pays for itself shortly. Plus you need to use the filtered water for cooking, too!
There are a lot of forms of reusable bottles to select from, and it may be onerous to know that are secure and don’t leach toxins into your beverage.
A latest examine printed within the Environmental Health Perspective Journal examined child bottles, reusable plastic water bottles and different merchandise marketed as BPA-Free, and located that, whereas certainly BPA-free, all of them launched different poisonous, hormone-affecting chemical substances. The truth is, some BPA-free plastic containers examined increased for dangerous chemical substances than the “common” ones with BPA!
“BPA-Free” isn’t any assure that your reusable bottle isn’t leaching poisonous, hormone-disrupting chemical substances into your beverage.
The most secure and most eco-friendly reusable bottles are made out of glass or chrome steel. Each glass and metal bottles are made in numerous enjoyable colours and designs, and a few are thermal, permitting you to maintain scorching drinks cold and warm ones chilly.
Select one (or two) you want, and carry it with you so that you at all times have it available at house, work, the gymnasium, or in town. That manner, you’ll by no means should threat your well being or the well being of the planet by shopping for drinks in plastic bottles once more!
The True Price of Bottled Water
This video by Annie Leonard explores the bottled water trade’s use of seductive, environmental-themed promoting to cowl up the dear oil it squanders and the mountains of plastic waste it produces.
Up to date August 28, 2021
