But How Can That Be? If The Water Is In A Bottle, How Do We Waste It?

It takes 3 bottles of water to make one bottle for a bottle of bottled water. The plastic bottle industry uses 17,000,000 barrels of oil to make the over 26 billion bottles we will use and throw away this year.Bottled water as an alternative to bottled soft drinks is not a bad idea if you are trying to eat healthier;however, the convenience and availability of plastic bottles do not outweigh the costs and waste involved with their manufacture and consumption. The fact is that we waste water at home, at work, and in industry to the tune of billions of gallons a year, but through conservation practices and good energy habits, we can control what we waste, and minimize what waste we can. Then we go to the store with the money we have saved on our water bill by using low-flush toilets and faucet washers and 3 minute showers and spend it on a case of bottled water.
For comparison, we can go out and buy a hybrid car, do all of the scheduled maintenance, change the air filters,spark plugs,and the oil on a regular basis, and then drive it for 70,000 miles without tires. Why spend all the time and effort on conserving waste water, and then toss away all of that good work buying and drinking bottled water?

Bottled Water: A Good Idea Whose Time Is Done.

Back in the old days ( the 1970′s) if we wanted a nice cold glass of water, we got some ice out of the knuckle buster ice trays, plunked a few cubes in the glass, and filled it out of the tap. It was cold, clear, delicious, and refreshing. Bottled water was for people who wanted that extra luxury; a bottle of water from a faraway land bottled just for them, with maybe a little fizz for show and tingle. Bottled water was a fringe item, but like any other good marketing idea, bottled water went mainstream. As a result of this bottled water boom, over 60,000,000 water bottles are being introduced into our landfills every day. Plastic is a necessary part of modern civilization; however, safe, efficient decomposition is not one of its strong points. In the estimated hundreds of years it takes for a plastic bottle to decompose, harmful chemicals leach out of the plastic and into the soil and eventually end up contaminating our ground water. There is also some recent evidence that contaminants from the plastic leach into the bottled water while waiting to be purchased and consumed. Recycling plastic water bottles helps reduce the demand for landfill space, but its much more efficient to stop making the product rather than continue to make the product and hope that someone remembers to toss the bottle into a recycle bin instead of the regular trash.

So, What Can We Do?

Well, for starters, we can:

1.Stop buying plastic bottled beverages. We can cut the head off the problem and be done with it. But if it was really that easy (and it is) we would be doing that already.
2. If you are going to buy plastic bottled beverages, recycle the plastic bottles. Most neighborhoods and landfills have a recycle container just for plastic bottles. Treat it like a basketball shot, shoot, and SCORE!
3. Instead of paying for single use plastic bottles, buy a home filtration pitcher or faucet filtration unit. These are inexpensive, and you normally get billions of gallons of filtered tap water from each filter. Well, hundreds of gallons, since only the late Carl Sagan was able to get billions and billions of gallons from one filter.
4.If your state has a plastic bottle Deposit program, donate all of your plastic bottles to your local Boy Scout or church organization, or return them yourself and pocket the money!
5.When a portable source of drinking water is needed, and a cactus is not a practical alternative, use a glass bottle instead of a plastic bottle. Glass is very recycle friendly, breaks down into its constituent components without leaching toxins into the soil, and (if you are male and aged 5-70) shatters when applied to most rocks.
6.Moms, use the filtered water from the tap or pitcher to set up formula bottles. Do not mix the formula until you are ready to feed the baby. Also, when mixing dry formula with water, invert the nipple of the bottle before shaking so it doesn’t get all gunky inside.
7.Under Homeland Security rules, liquids are not allowed to pass through checkpoints. Rather than waste a bottle, simply empty the bottle before passing through the checkpoint, and refill it from the water fountain on the other side.
8.If available, use compost friendly ‘green’ bottles. These are made from a byproduct of natural fermented corn sugars, just like bourbon, without the alcohol or hangover the next morning.
9.Kids, if your school doesn’t already have a recycle program, ask your teacher to help you start one. It’s good for the environment, plus you get extra credit. Give the teacher some homework for a change!
10.For people who spend most of the summer outside, invest in one of those 5 gallon orange water coolers and a metal drinking cup. Staying hydrated is an important part of healthy living all year round, and 5 gallons of ice water is serious hydration.

For video…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZbTXDkrD1o
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