Why Bottled Water Is A Waste

By: Krysten C.

So, you think you’re cool carrying around, ordering, and purchasing bottled water. After all, it’s the “cleanest,” “healthiest” – and if you’re really cool, your water is even “smart.” Here’s the thing, you’re wrong.

WATER BOTTLE WHY NOTS

• The growing usage of plastic water bottles and the amount of waste that comes with it is a problem that is increasingly growing around the world.
• BBC reports that, “Empty bottles, made of petroleum-based plastic, accumulate as non-biodegradable rubbish along city streets, in rivers, in parks, on beaches, and ultimately, they can end up in the ocean. Floating in the Pacific is the Eastern Garbage Patch, a large heap of trash twice the size of Texas, according to the Los Angeles Times. The vast majority of it is plastic.”
• If tap water cost the same amount as the cheapest bottled water, then monthly water bills would cost $9,000. Ouch.
• Each year, our landfills and litter chalk up $1B worth of plastic water bottles. Talk about a waste of money.
• If you think gasoline prices are through the roof, then guess how much bottled water costs? $10 per gallon.
• It takes 1.5M barrels of oil to make plastic bottles each year. With that oil, 100,000 Americans could fuel their cars for a year.
• 30 billion plastic water bottles are thrown away every year. With plastic taking thousands of years to disintegrate, toxic waste is continuing to build in the Pacific Ocean.

WHAT YOU’RE REALLY GETTING WITH WATER BOTTLES

Here’s the thing, top bottled water produces such as Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke) are practically stealing your money. Aquafina and Dasani account for 24% of all US bottled water sales. However, all that these companies do is treat their municipal tap water and resell it at a premium mark-up. So for what your refrigerator water filter can do, you’re paying premium.

Do The Math:

Let’s just say that your refrigerator filter from DiscountFilters.com costs you $66.55 for a year’s supply (2 filters).  You can use this water for drinking, cooking, washing dishes, whatever.

On the other hand, if the average person purchases 167 bottles of water a year at the cost of $1.25, it costs $208.75 a year – and that’s just for drinking water.

Additionally, a recent study reported that the cost of bottled water is 7.5 times the cost of tap water.

Let’s Get Real:

A lot of people live under the assumption that bottled water is healthier for them. However, this belief doesn’t hold up in reality. Actually, tap water is more regulated because it has to be under FDA rules. Some bottled water can actually be contaminated because it doesn’t have to be filtered and is often filtered superficially to improve taste and smell. In fact, the plastic used for bottled water can contaminate the water.

In reality, your best bet for your wallet and the environment is to use your tap water and purchase a refrigerator water filter for drinking water. The difference that each person can make by doing so goes beyond yearly savings and into the world’s water that we rely on to keep us alive.

Sources:

Drop The Prop: http://www.droptheprop.info/bottled-water-statistics

Friendsofwater.com: http://www.friendsofwater.com/Water_Filters.html

Statistic Brain: http://www.statisticbrain.com/bottled-water-statistics/