Sure, bottled water may be convenient....

[poltr1]

...but it generates a lot of waste, particularly if the bottle isn't recycled.

Over the past 10 years, I've seen the sales (and availability) of bottled water go through the roof. What used to be a novelty is now everywhere. (Oh, and did I mention that "Evian" spelled backwards is "naive"?) I want to say it's due to the convenience of bottled water, or the perceived notion that it's better than tap water.

If I compare my tap water to bottled water, I do like the taste of bottled water better. But that's probably a result of filtering. If I take an empty gallon jug to the not-so-local grocery store, I can get a gallon of reverse-osmosis filtered water for 39 or 49 cents, depending on where I go. And it tastes great.

Here are some interesting facts from the < a href="http://www.refillnotlandfill.org/">Refill Not Landfill campaign website:
- 80% of water bottles get thrown out, not recycled
- The energy used for bottle production would power 190,000 homes
- Making these bottles uses 1.5 million barrels of oil (and I don't think that includes transporting them)

I have an idea. Let's all buy Nalgene bottles and refill them as needed, instead of wasting our resources on disposable water bottles.

Comments

[yourmommma.livejournal.com]

Does it count that I recycle my bottled water bottles by cleaning them with a light solution of bleach and then refill them with Brita filtered water and when they finally get too bad to use anymore I let the dogs play with them for awhile and then put them in the recycle?

And that my bottled water use has replaced my 8 20 oz Diet Coke habit?

[poltr1]

To me, that counts as reusing and recycling. Good for you!

What's saddening is that many people still consume the water and throw the bottle out, or worse, leave it as litter. If my state had a bottle bill, I doubt that would happen.

[cigfran-cg.livejournal.com]

Us too, more or less. We skip the dog-toy step, lacking canine family, but otherwise it's the same routine. And sometimes we skip the filtering and just refrigerate bottles of water straight from the tap. (It's well water, so free of the chlorine and other treatments of municipal water.)


Really wish there were wider-spread, more inclusive deposit laws. New York has a deposit on carbonated drinks, but H2O (including flavoured and/or sweetened), tea, juice & juice drinks, etc., have no deposit, so it's up to the conscience or consciousness of the individual. Our governor is pushing for an expanded bottle bill, but the stores are lobbying as hard as they can against it.