Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumA Million Bottles Per Minute
The immense waste that comes along with one-time-use plastic products is clearly evident, yet despite the growing amount of plastic waste filling up our oceans, coastlines and landfills, their usage continues. The number of plastic bottles alone is staggering, with data obtained by The Guardian suggesting 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute worldwide. Worse still, this is expected to increase by 20 percent by 2021 and reach more than half a trillion sold every year by 2020.1
Most of this waste comes from the seemingly insatiable thirst for bottled water, which exists even in areas where access to filtered tap water, which can be brought with you on-the-go via refillable bottles, exists.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/07/18/million-plastic-bottles-purchased-per-minute.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art3&utm_campaign=20170718Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM151218&et_rid=2084519827
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,895 posts)And I feel guilty every time I do.
I'm going to have to totally eliminate doing that. No reason I can't put tap water and some ice cubes into a jug of some kind.
magicarpet
(14,167 posts)It will leach no toxins into your drinking water as hot plastic will do.
Oubaas
(131 posts)...and eventually we'll all be crunching around on top of them.
By the way, as long as we're looking at the lifespan of plastic, did they ever do anything about making disposable diapers biodegradable?
Warpy
(111,339 posts)when I was far from home and very thirsty. And I reused them until they sprang leaks. I've got one of the tops on a bottle of cider vinegar, another on a bottle of tamari. Two are in a drawer waiting for something they'll fit. The tops are quite handy for some things.
Personally, I'd rather swig homemade seltzer, diet soda, or my own filtered tap water. I had to use a water service years ago when tap water was undrinkable. I think people who use bottled water when they don't have to are nuts.