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The Problem of Plastic Water Bottle and How We Can Solve It

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The Problem of Plastic Water Bottle and How We Can Solve It

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The widespread use of plastic water bottles has caused a myriad of problems, such as potential health risks, environmental damage, and additional expenses and financial risks. However, these negative challenges can all be easily overcome with minor changes in our daily lives. One solution is to use a refillable water bottle. Many schools and public buildings have water stations designed to refill a reusable water bottle. Another solution is to use drinking fountains. Most public buildings have drinking fountains, and the water is often chilled, making it just as enjoyable to drink as what comes out of a refrigerator case. A final solution involves changing our laws and regulations. For example, lawmakers in Hawaii have proposed a bill that would prevent plastic water bottles holding less than two liters from being sold within the state. If passed, this would drastically reduce the amount of plastic waste in the state. These solutions are much kinder to your body, the environment, and your budget and are so simple to implement that it’s a wonder that everyone is not doing it.

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Economic Impacts of Plastic Water Bottles

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Economic Impacts of Plastic Water Bottles

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The most immediate consequence of drinking bottled water can be felt in one’s wallet. Bottled water on average is a thousand times more expensive than tap water. Tap water costs around $3 per 1000 liters, whereas bottled water costs around $3 per one liter. This is an unnecessary cost that many people have been tricked into making through clever marketing in a world in which many people are already struggling financially. Furthermore, another factor is that much of the water that fills bottled water comes from underground aquifers. Aquifers are underwater reservoirs of water that can take years to replenish. Depleting these aquifers can lead to challenges for farmers trying to irrigate their fields. If farmers can not access this water, it will become more difficult and more expensive for them to grow their crops, increasing the financial burden on them and the consumers that buy their products. Bottled water has hidden costs for everyone in addition to the high sticker price on its label.

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest of six garbage patches in oceans in the world. It is twice the size of Texas and consists mostly of plastic.

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This graph shows the concentration of microplastics that have been found in popular brands of bottled water.

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Environmental Impacts of Plastic Water Bottles

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Environmental Impacts of Plastic Water Bottles

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Plastic water bottles have a devastating effect on the environment. Because it takes 450 years for a plastic water bottle to break down, these plastic bottles are piling up in landfills and in our oceans. In fact there are six huge garbage patches in the ocean made up mainly of plastic. The largest of these oceanic garbage patches is in the Pacific Ocean, and it is more than twice the size of the state of Texas! This greatly impacts the marine ecosystems. In addition to pollution, the production and distribution of plastic water bottles requires a lot of energy, resulting in wasted natural resources. The total energy needed in the production of bottled water is 5.6-10.2 MJ per liter, whereas only 0.005 MJ per liter is needed to access tap water. That is over 1000 times as much energy! Due to issues like climate change and the depletion of natural resources, we should be looking for ways to reduce our energy use, not increase it. Finally, bottled water also affects the water supply itself. In order to make and refrigerate 1.5 liters of bottled water, 6 liters are needed. This causes three-quarters of the water used to produce bottled water goes to waste! While many people think of water as a renewable resource, there is a finite amount of clean fresh drinking water on the planet. With so many damaging consequences to the environment, it is perplexing as to why so many people choose to purchase bottled water.

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Drinking water from plastic water bottles can have negative effects on humans. One reason is that the water that is being bottled is not necessarily as healthy as water that is tested and purified by government agencies and that comes from your tap. For example, in the United States, tap water must meet EPA guidelines which is not required of bottled water. As a result, bottled water does not have enough essential minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Not having enough of these nutrients can result in health ailments. Additionally, about 20% of the bottled waters tested had harmful compounds such as chlorine, fluoride and nitrate that exceed the guidelines set by the World Health Organization. On top of that, bottled water contains 50% more microplastics than tap water. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic which are less than 5 mm in size. As you can imagine, consuming tiny pieces of plastic that cannot be digested by your body can lead to negative health consequences. It is ironic that by paying a lot of money for water, we are actually getting a lower quality and potentially harmful product than the one that flows cheaply and freely from our taps.

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Drinking from disposable water bottles is a relatively new habit. In the 1970s, Perrier, a French company, began marketing its sparkling bottled water as a healthier and more delicious choice than regular tap water. Around the same time, an American scientist named Nathan Wyeth patented the plastic bottle which replaced the glass bottles soft drink manufacturers were using. In the next decade, a series of public health scares led to the increase in sales of plastic water bottles. In 1986 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned Americans that there was lead in some public drinking water. Fearing for their health, many Americans then turned to bottled water, thinking that it was a safer alternative to public water. Today, Americans buy 50 billion water bottles each year, and it is believed that the sale and manufacturing of water bottles could now be a $334 billion dollar industry. This practice has led to numerous harmful human, environmental and economic impacts.