Who knew plastic water bottles could cause so many problems

When you buy a plastic water bottle do you ever stop and think how much fuel it takes to produce and distribute these containers filled with a material we should not have to buy? Or how much space each one of these bottles wastes at the land fills, since most of us will not recycle them? I will be the first to say that I do not. If I am buying one, it is because I am at school or someplace else where I do not have a cup or I need to transport my water bottle style so it will not spill. However after reading this article, you may want to think twice about your water bottle drinking habits, I know that I did.

In Australia, 65% of plastic drink bottles end up in landfills. In part, this is because when their citizens are drinking them they are at places where there are no recycling bins. At home, Australians have a good recycling track record, 45% of these plastic contraptions are recycled. But the majority of bottles, as you can see, are wasting space. I know this article is not talking about the US, but it made me wonder how much space are ours taking up? Think about how may plastic bottles, including pop, and Gatorade, but more specifically water, that we just throw away. I actually can’t believe that Australia is #1 for the amount of un-recycled water bottles and not us. We are the bottled-water-drinking-soccer-mom nation!

Australia claims that it is too hard to place recycling bins in public on beaches because most of the property is owned by too many different companies. But why can’t they just make a mandate? If we can require people to have insurance on their car to drive them, cant they make all beaches and move theatres have two recycling bins, one for aluminum (pop cans) and another for plastic water bottles?

One fact the article also points out that I find interesting is that, “Much of the growth came from countries such as Australia, where most tap water is just as high a quality as anything that can be bought.” This is true of Americans as well. Our tap water is clean and tastes good! If yours does not, you can buy a cheap water filter for your sink. Plus tap water is energy efficiently distributed, while distributing water bottles involves shipping them long distance rather than from the local lake, which wastes fossil fuels. The article makes the suggestion that people should carry their own personal water bottles. I would encourage people to reuse plastic water bottles, or carry them in your car etc… until you reach a place, like your house, where you can recycle them.

Not to mention, drink bottles take up a large percentage of litter which is terrible for our fury friends! This article really got me pumped and thinking that maybe I will do some environmental work soon, focus on something I can change, instead of bashing the government’s policies, which I cannot change.