In 1976 Americans drank an average of 1.6 gallons of bottled water every
year. Roughly 30 years later consumption increased to 30 gallons per person,
according to the Earth Policy Institute --- despite the fact that bottled water
can cost anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water, which is
brought right to your home for pennies a gallon. Bottled water also creates its
own share of pollution --- the production of plastic bottles requires millions
of barrels of oil per year and the transportation of bottled water from
its source to stores releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.
Oil Consumption
According to "National Geographic," Americans drink more
bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion
bottles every year. Making all the plastic for those bottles uses 17 million
barrels of crude oil annually. That is equivalent to the fuel needed to
keep 1 million vehicles on the road for 12 months. If you were to fill one
quarter of a plastic water bottle with oil, you would be looking at roughly the
amount used to produce that bottle.
Recycling
The recycling rate for those 29 billion bottles of water is low; only
about 13 percent end up in the recycling stream where they are turned into
products like fleece clothing, carpeting, decking, playground equipment
and new containers and bottles. In 2005, that meant approximately 2 million
tons of water bottles ended up in U.S. landfills, according to the National
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) .Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose
and if they are incinerated, toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and
ash containing heavy metals, are released into the atmosphere.
Transportation
Bottled water often takes a long journey to U.S. markets. In 2006, the
equivalent of 2 billion half-liter bottles arrived in U.S. ports, according to
the NRDC. Fiji shipped 18 million gallons of bottled water to California,
releasing about 2,500 tons of transportation-related pollution. Western
Europe's shipment of bottled water to New York City that year released 3,800
tons of pollution. The Earth Policy Institute estimates that the energy used to
pump, process, transport and refrigerate bottled water is over 50 million
barrels of oil annually .
Contaminants
Bottled water isn't always as safe as tap water. The NRDC conducted a four-year study of the bottled water industry and concluded that while most bottled water is safe to drink, there are areas of concern. Roughly 22 percent of the water tested contained contaminant levels that exceeded strict state health limits. One study found that hormone-disrupting phthalates had leached into bottled water that had been stored for 10 weeks
Synthesizing.
Americans
distribute to earth pollution the most in water bottle consuming.Surprisingly, the conclusion came up with this equation !
29
billion bottles = 17million barrels of crude oil = 1million vehicles fuel for
12 months
Unfortunately, for
every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. Even
there is recycling process undergoes out there,but only 13% bottles are sent to
be recycled. The rest are sent to
landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers,
lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to
disintegrate.
If you think water bottle is better for you than your own house tap
water,you got it wrong. 22% of the water have contaminated with the hormone-disrupting
phthalates.See…
Some ideas on how to reduce plastic bottle
waste
1. Initiate a Company-Wide Ban on Single-Use Water Bottles
2. Prominently Display Recycling Containers Throughout The
Facility
3. Install a Sustainable Water Dispenser Everywhere
4. Give Everyone a Refillable Sports Bottle
5. Place a Filtered-Water Carafe in Every Break Room
Refrigerator
6. Provide communities Incentives For Bringing In and Using
Reusable Bottles
7. Give New Life to Old Plastic Bottles (recycle)
Additional Information for
my dear friends,
Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to
power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.
Let save our earth !
Synonyms
Barrel : any container, case
Crude oil : petroleum as it comes from the ground, before refining.
Decking : material, as paper or fiberboard, treated in various ways as awaterproof covering for a deck or roof.
Incinerated: to burn or reduce to ashes; cremate.
Phthalate : esters of phthalic acid - mainly used as plasticizers (substances added toplastics to increase their flexibility, transparency,
durability, and longevity) - used
primarily to soften (PVC)
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