Bottled Water is Wasteful
The environmental cost of the massive consumption of bottled water has led some U.S. and Canadian local governments to consider a ban its sale. While this seems an extreme response, the scientific concerns are well-founded, and the facts may surprise you.
Fact #1. Bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes. It is estimated that over 80% of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become "litter."
Source: ValleyWater.org
Fact #2. Recycling is only feasible in limited circumstances because only PET bottles can be recycled. All other bottles are discarded. Only 1 out of 5 bottles are sent to the recycle bin.
Source: SunTimes
Fact #3. U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles alone.
Source: idswater.org
Fact #4. It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to meet the demand of U.S. water bottle manufacturing. This amount of oil far exceeds the amount needed to power 100,000 for a year, which does not include fossil fuel and emissions costs of green house gases needed to transport the final product to market.
Source: SunTimes
Fact #5. It is estimated that actually 3 liters of water is used to package 1 liter of bottled water. Source: ValleyWater.org
An Example:
"In summary, the manufacture and transport of that
one kilogram bottle of Fiji [brand] water consumed..."
- 26.88 kilograms of water (7.1 gallons)
- .849 Kilograms of fossil fuel (one litre or .26 gal) and
- Emitted 562 grams of Greenhouse Gases (1.2 pounds).
Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/pablo_calculate.php
