2.5 million disposable water bottles are thrown away in the US every hour.
One of the easiest things you can do to make a difference is to get a reusable water bottle and refill it at home from you tap or water filter. Stainless steel bottles are best as plastic is so controversial right now – besides, they’re virtually indestructible!
- Plastic Recycling Facts(from Earth 911):
In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills. - Bottled water costs between $1 and $4 per gallon, and 90 percent of the cost is in the bottle, lid and label.
According to the Beverage Marketing Corp, the average American consumed 1.6 gallons of bottled water in 1976. In 2006 that number jumped to 28.3 gallons. - It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.
- Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.
- In 2007 we spent $16 billion on bottled water. That’s more than we spent on iPods or movie tickets.
- Plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years before they begin to decompose once buried.
- If everyone in NYC gave up water bottles for one week, they would save 24 million bottles from being land-filled. One month on the same plan would save 112 million bottles, and one year would save 1.328 billion bottles from going into the landfill.
Check out these great reusable water bottles:
Sigg is my favorite as they have so many fun designs. They’re currently offering free shipping on orders of $50 or more! I bought the one shown above for my sister as a birthday gift…a fun designed bottle does make a great gift!
Eco Canteen- you may have seen their advertisement on t.v. recently. They have a mouth wide enough to drop in ice cubes and they are dishwasher safe. They point out that their bottles are about 1/2 the price of others, but once you add in the shipping its only slightly less so if you’re looking for a bottle with a unique design it may be worth to pay $5 more and go for Sigg.
GreenFeet carries Klean Kanteen and are currently offering shipping on orders over $50. These too have a wide mouth and are dishwasher safe. They even have a cool Wine Karafe! But you’ll have to go directly to their website for that as GreenFeet doesn’t carry it.
