I’ve decided I need to be more “green”. That is I need to start reducing the amount of resources I use and how much waste I produce that goes into landfills. Not an easy task, but there are some simple things I can do that are not difficult. I was inspired the other day when I read a news story that the mayor of San Francisco has banned the purchase of water bottles with city funds. I looked into this a little further and found these facts about water bottle usage.
*8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or end up in a landfill (Container Recycling Institute)
*The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes. But refilling your water bottle from the tap requires no expenditure of energy, and zero waste of resources. (PBS Point of View 2004)
*Making all of the bottles for the US requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars. (Earth Policy Institute)
*In the United States in 2006, bottled water consumption reached a record 8.3 billion gallons, 185 million gallons of which was imported. The total amount spent on bottled water was over $11 billion. (Beverage Marketing Corp.)
*In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transported by boat, train, and truck. (Earth Policy Institute)
*It costs more money to drink bottled water than to put gas in your car--up to five time more--due mainly to its packaging and transportation.(Earth Policy Institute)
*Bottled water companies do not have to release their water-testing results to the public, whereas municipalities do. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
Well, That was enough to convince me. I purchased a Nalgene bottle (I lost my previous one) and got it in the mail today. I’ve also taken the Refill Not Landfill pledge to not purchase or use bottled water for the next year (and hopefully never again). Will you join me????? (check out http://www.refillnotlandfill.org/ for more info and to buy yourself a bottle)
*8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or end up in a landfill (Container Recycling Institute)
*The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes. But refilling your water bottle from the tap requires no expenditure of energy, and zero waste of resources. (PBS Point of View 2004)
*Making all of the bottles for the US requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars. (Earth Policy Institute)
*In the United States in 2006, bottled water consumption reached a record 8.3 billion gallons, 185 million gallons of which was imported. The total amount spent on bottled water was over $11 billion. (Beverage Marketing Corp.)
*In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transported by boat, train, and truck. (Earth Policy Institute)
*It costs more money to drink bottled water than to put gas in your car--up to five time more--due mainly to its packaging and transportation.(Earth Policy Institute)
*Bottled water companies do not have to release their water-testing results to the public, whereas municipalities do. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
Well, That was enough to convince me. I purchased a Nalgene bottle (I lost my previous one) and got it in the mail today. I’ve also taken the Refill Not Landfill pledge to not purchase or use bottled water for the next year (and hopefully never again). Will you join me????? (check out http://www.refillnotlandfill.org/ for more info and to buy yourself a bottle)
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