Bottled Water
More than 5 trillion gallons of bottled water is shipped internationally each year. The bottled water industry is also experiencing rapid growth and bottling factories are consuming mass quantities of fresh water from local sources that are shipped out such that it is creating huge strains on their surrounding eco systems where the plants are located. This problem is only getting worse as the consumption of bottled water in America alone has increased from 13.4 gallons per person in 1997 to 29.3 gallons per person in 2007.
Bottling and shipping water also consumes a great quantity of resources as proven by Sustainability Engineer and MBA Pablo Päster. He completed a thorough and exhaustive study of the cost to bring a one liter bottle of Fiji Water to America. He calculated that the manufacture and transport of a bottle of Fiji water consumed 6.74 times more water than the bottle actually held, .26 gallons of fossil fuel and emitted 1.2 pounds of Greenhouse Gases.
The Container Recycling Institute also reports that it takes forty-seven million gallons of oil, or enough fuel for 100,000 cars to supply America with more than 25 billion single use plastic water bottles for one year. This pumps approximately one billion pounds of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. On top of that approximately 80% of all those plastic bottles end up in the landfill which then leak toxic additives such as phthalates into the groundwater and it takes up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.
On top of all this, bottle water cost approximately 2000 times more than filtered tap water and studies have shown that the environmental impact of tap water is less than one percent of that of bottled water. Other studies have proven that bottled water is no safer than tap water and the Environmental Working Group study which tested popular brands of bottled water for contamination found 38 different harmful chemicals, including painkillers, fertilizer and arsenic, in 10 brands of bottled water. In addition, tap water is actually held to more stringent quality standards than bottled water, and some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise as up to 40 percent of bottled water is actually just bottled municipal water.
Bottom line is that bottled water degrades the environment, adds to global warming and creates a large amount of waste in our landfills. It is also far healthier to just filter tap water at home and take it with you in a reusable container. Containers should be glass or metal as plastics leach chemicals into the water and it only gets worse the older the plastic containers get.
Bottling and shipping water also consumes a great quantity of resources as proven by Sustainability Engineer and MBA Pablo Päster. He completed a thorough and exhaustive study of the cost to bring a one liter bottle of Fiji Water to America. He calculated that the manufacture and transport of a bottle of Fiji water consumed 6.74 times more water than the bottle actually held, .26 gallons of fossil fuel and emitted 1.2 pounds of Greenhouse Gases.
The Container Recycling Institute also reports that it takes forty-seven million gallons of oil, or enough fuel for 100,000 cars to supply America with more than 25 billion single use plastic water bottles for one year. This pumps approximately one billion pounds of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. On top of that approximately 80% of all those plastic bottles end up in the landfill which then leak toxic additives such as phthalates into the groundwater and it takes up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.
On top of all this, bottle water cost approximately 2000 times more than filtered tap water and studies have shown that the environmental impact of tap water is less than one percent of that of bottled water. Other studies have proven that bottled water is no safer than tap water and the Environmental Working Group study which tested popular brands of bottled water for contamination found 38 different harmful chemicals, including painkillers, fertilizer and arsenic, in 10 brands of bottled water. In addition, tap water is actually held to more stringent quality standards than bottled water, and some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise as up to 40 percent of bottled water is actually just bottled municipal water.
Bottom line is that bottled water degrades the environment, adds to global warming and creates a large amount of waste in our landfills. It is also far healthier to just filter tap water at home and take it with you in a reusable container. Containers should be glass or metal as plastics leach chemicals into the water and it only gets worse the older the plastic containers get.
New Homes and Remodeling
Energy Efficient Construction
Green Building and Development Techniques
Energy Efficient Construction
Green Building and Development Techniques
New Homes and Remodeling
Energy Efficient Construction
Green Building and Development Techniques
Energy Efficient Construction
Green Building and Development Techniques