Did you know that around the world, only about 10% of plastic products end up being recycled? Many people around the world have safe tap water at home, yet still buy bottled water to drink. From a poll taken in the UK, 9 out of 10 people say they would recycle if it were “made easier”. This makes sense when you look at the different recycling bins to choose from. I remember being a college student and being overwhelmed by how many sectors of recycling we are expected to understand as a society. If many adults don’t know, or care about, the difference between recycling and regular trash, how can we expect the generations after us to do the same and continue to take better care of our Earth and environment?
We can teach and do better!
Recycling is one of the GREAT modern advancement movements. What disrupts this movement is how many individuals aren’t participating or are confused by what garbage is recyclable and which bins to use, suggesting that recycling can be “made easier” to understand. This is especially harmful with the rise in one-time use plastics in the relatively small span of time since the 1970’s when recycling became a widely-used process.
How Bottled Water Affects our Environment
“Transport is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, and transporting water adds to that. We could help reduce these damaging effects if we all simply drank water straight from the tap.” -Dr Michael Warhurst, (Thompson, 2009).
Shipping water halfway around the world is causing more damage to our Earth and atmosphere. It takes about ¼ of a water bottle full of oil to manufacture and ship one bottle of water.
Since so many plastic bottles end up in our landfills, beaches and our oceans, animals all over the globe are innocently subjected to harmful substances by unfortunately mistaking littered pieces of our trash and plastics for food and shelter. These plastics take an awfully long time to decompose because they are photodegradable, which means they eventually breakdown into smaller pieces when exposed to sunlight. (Pollution Solutions, 2015)
Many people who drink bottled water and aluminum contained goods will save the containers and personally turn in their recycling to a dedicated recycling business to receive their $0.05 (can vary by location) back / container.
If you don’t drink the water from your tap due to bacterial contaminants and sediments, investing in a water treatment system like Ultraviolet Light will upgrade your water life! Aqua Ultraviolet manufactures UV products to disinfect water for several different applications like ponds, pools, AND your Whole House or Business!
This addition to your home water system will contribute to using less PET products, so grab your reusable water bottle and ditch that plastic to help save the environment!
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Sources and Further Readings:
Thompson, J. 2009. Eau, no: Clean, healthy and pure? Hardly. Bottled water is killing the planet. https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/eau-no-clean-healthy-and-pure-hardly-bottled-water-is-killing-the-planet-6109336.html
Pollution Solutions. 2015. What is Plastic Photodegradation? https://www.pollutionsolutions-online.com/news/waste-management/21/breaking-news/what-is-plastic-photodegradation/35801
