Why are so many people against plastic water bottles? They're recyclable so I don't see why its so bad for the environment when it can be recycled and turned into other products...
The latest studies have shown that the plastic used to make water bottles can seep into the water and cause cancer, especially when the water bottle is left in a hot car. The most eco-friendly and health-friendly water bottle out there now are the metal ones, because they are recyclable, reusable, and won't give you cancer.
1) long before one resorts to recycling a product, one needs to consider not having the product at all. Using a re-usable (non-plastic) container means there is nothing to be recycled. Always consider the first 2 R's before resorting to the last R - in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. 2) recycling plastic is better than not recycling, but still takes a lot of energy and thus should be avoided whenever possible. 3) *many* plastic bottles are not recycled and end up in either landfill sites, or become either land (gets buried by detritus) or marine pollution. I've seen numbers like 88% are not recycled. That addresses the general concept of plastic bottles. Then there is the BPA concern. This is a serious problem with leaching from plastic containers although this is much more of a problem with reusable water bottles and microwaved containers.
So many reasons.... where to start? Lets start with the plastic bottle, plastics are made from oil, they are toxic and energy intensive to produce, create toxic waste and most are not recycled, of those that are recycled they go back into another toxic and energy intensive process and can't be made back into what it was before, so they are actually down cycled. Then there are the health risks, plastics are not chemically stable and can leach chemicals into the water or other food they aren't meant to protect. We can also talk about the transportation impact as well, we are shipping water from all over the country so you can have the option of getting municipal water from almost any state in the union as well as other countries. Bottled water isn't cleaner or safer, it has fewer regulations than tap water several brands can't meet the minimum standards in several states. There is also all the storage and refrigeration impacts as well. But worse of all is the source of the water, several companies are being sued by several communities because the corporations are depleting their water supplies. Several other lawsuits have been filed to protect natural habitats which are threatened. All this because beverage companies want greater profits they launched a successful campaign to convince us to pay over $8 per gallon for something we can get for free.
Firstly, the plastic from recycled water bottles is NOT used to produce more water bottles. So, every time water bottles are produced they and made from virgin materials. Secondly, the majority of water bottles are not recycled. Thirdly, they are not a necessity, and they are greatly increasing the amount of plastic produced and added to landfills. What about the days before we constantly drank bottled water? We drank out of water fountains, or reusable cups. Fourthly, BPA is a health risk present in disposable water bottles. A much better option is a BPA free water bottle such as my favorite water bottle the Camelbak reusable/dish washer safe/BPA free product that me and many of my friends use. This water bottle can be used over and over and I do not have to worry about where it will end up in the trash. I have been using the same bottle for almost a year and I bring it with me where ever I go. It's air tight so I can put it in my purse and it has a finger holder so I can carry it. If you are interested they sell them at Big 5, REI, and I'm pretty sure at other sporting goods locations. If not this bottle there are others out there that are similiar to them such as the EcoCanteen, and many other reusable BPA free bottles sold at Target, etc. Think before using and go green with your water bottle, and why not encourage your friends and family too as well. I bought a bunch of these bottles as Christmas presents for my family last year and they love them.
Sorry Amez, I did not mean to give you a low rating and I cannot undo it... so sorry :( I want to emphasize the fact that the whole plastic recycling issue has been marketed to promote plastic use. Early on the plastic industry adopted the recycling symbol to merely indicate the kind of resin being used (the numbers inside the symbol), to supposedly sort it. However, almost all plastics are NOT RECYCLED but DOWNCYCLED, which means they are reprocessed into something of inferior quality, which in turn ends up in landfill next cycle anyways. We should also note that most of plastics were not intended to be in contact with food yet today they are, with pretty bad consequences in people's health and of course the environment where they end up. As anybody with a couple eyeballs will attest, many disposables linked to the food industry end up in nature rather than landfills. The next time you are buying food just think of this. Don't just think of yourself but stop for a moment and be a better human being by avoiding plastics as much as possible. You will not starve or die of thirst, I promise. You will instead be spreading the best practice of what we should all be doing, regardless of a system that pushes us to be idiotic and wasteful.
