The backlash against bottled water stems from three environmental concerns:
1 THEY’RE CLOGGING LANDFILLS
Nationwide, just 23 percent of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles, the most common type used for bottled water, were recycled in 2005, down from 40 percent in 1995. The rest pile into landfills, where space is limited. Recycling rates for plastic bottles is lower than for glass bottles (38 percent) and aluminum cans (62 percent), possibly because people tend to use plastic bottles on the go. Although PET bottles make up less than 2 percent of municipal solid waste, recycling a ton of PET containers would save 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space.
2 THEY’RE WASTING OIL
The 1.5 million barrels of crude oil used each year to manufacture plastic water bottles for U.S. consumers could fuel 100,000 cars for a year.
3 THEY’RE POLLUTING THE AIR
Shipping the 43 million gallons of bottled water imported annually from the European Union to ports in New York and New Jersey creates about the same carbon dioxide emissions as 660 cars running for a year. The 64 million gallons of bottled water imports that go through L.A. ports emit as many greenhouses gases in transport as 1,700 cars running for a year. Meanwhile, 800,000 metric tons of carbon equivalent are released in making about 50 million new PET bottles.
Sources: Container Recycling Institute, Earth Policy Institute, National Association for PET Container Resources
