New to being green…why do the commercials about water bottles say they are horrible for the environment?
Posted February 17, 2010 – 11:56 pm in: Green Cleaning TipsI have always recycled but am now trying to be more green and wonder why the commercials about water bottles say they are so horrible. I thought they were ok and were being recycled? Is it really bad to use them if I recycle? I have a newborn and use bottled water to make his formula when I cannot pump. I do use a brita pitcher for my own water but I dont feel it is as clean as the sterile baby water. Also any tips for someone new to green living?
Tags: About, being, Bottles, commercials, Environment, green...why, horrible, they, WATERPost a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
9 Comments
It’s not bad to recycle them. They’re just telling us that it’s better to use the bottles that like you just have at home and bring around with you, because even though it’s better to recycle the process we use to recycle things still lets out harmful chemicals into the air.
Actually, water from the tap is typically much cleaner than bottled water. Tap water goes through much more stringent and frequent testing and is subject to much stricter laws than bottled water. Bottled water is, basically, unregulated. It can contain many different compounds at levels much higher than tap water, including heavy metals.
“Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA’s rules, they are subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than those which apply to city tap water”
http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp
Also see the table in the same link.
And anyway, as for the environment: of course it’s better to not use something in the first place than to use it and recycle it. The manufacture of each individual bottle requires huge amounts of energy, and recycling it also requires a lot of energy. Not to mention the toxic chemicals these processes release.
What do you think is better, a reusable water which needs only to be made once, or 10,000 plastic water bottles, each one requiring its own energy to make and then energy to recycle? Recycling isn’t just refilling the bottle. The plastic has to go through an extensive melt down, refining, molding, etc. It’s basically going through the same processes that you go through to make a new bottle, the difference being it uses less raw resources.
Plus, the plastics themselves can leach chemicals into the water.
Note: if you’re still worried about the quality of your tap water, you can buy a home test kit online. Something like this should do the trick. $20.
http://www.sciencekits.com/WaterSafe.html
Water Bottles take more energy to make, contaminate the water that is inside of them, and because they are plastic, they are not biodegradable. The water that is in the bottles are only regulated and checked for contaminants when the company feels like it, possibly once a year, where Tap water is regulated constantly and has high regulations. An Activated Carbon Filter with Tap water is your safest way to get clean, affordable, eco-friendly water.
Some water bottles cannot be recycled, these are what the commercials are referring to. Most of the plastic water bottles are fine to just throw in the recycling bin,(make sure you throw away the lids which can’t be recycled), but others are made of certain materials that can release toxins.
It is better to recycle them than not. It is better not to use them at all, if you can avoid it. They are non-biodegradable. That means they don’t turn into some harmless substance through actions of microbes. However, they do break down when exposed to sun light, but they won’t tell you that.
BTW, rocks are non-biodegradable, as much as plastic. But, both will disintegrate into tiny particles that become soil.
I find that there is not much difference in the taste of the water only that the bottle becomes a little old looking after a while, so that’s when i buy a new one, but it takes me a while to buy that new water bottle. I don’t see why we cant recycle old bottles, there is no shame in it. Well i don’t think so anyway.
Why o why are we still using plastic bottles? lets go back 30 to 35 years ago.
Our milk was delivered in glass bottles and then placed outside to be collected by the milkman to re-use.
Soft drinks like Coke,Sprite etc all came in glass bottles you did however have to pay 20 cents deposit for large and 5 cents for small bottles that was refundable at the shop upon return.
Here is the kicker here if we were to start using glass again the Billions of plastic bottles used world wide would end up being recycled if they were glass.
Why because even if you are not interested in getting you 20 cents back there are children and people not so fortunate as some who will collect these to receive the refund.
Low and behold the end of the plastic bottles littering the whole planet.
A couple of things, bottled water isn’t better than tap water. As a matter of fact some bottled water doesn’t meet some state water standards for tap water. The bad things about bottled water are the use of plastics, transportation impacts and the ecological damage of pumping millions of gallons out of aquifers and other water sources. Several communities around the nation are suing Nestle and other water bottling companies because they are robbing them of their water supply. I’ll put a few links.
Yay, welcome to the green club
First off, the 3 R’s is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. It’s good that the plastic waterbottles we use are recyclable, but the most important thing is to reuse and reduce. Production takes energy, and a ton more plastic is still being used. And recycling takes energy as well. The best thing is to not have that plastic water bottle in the first place. When there are alternatives, why not? I’m trying to save plastic bottles for things like road trips.
Second of all, there is a concern about the plastic in waterbottles. Plastic is made from chemicals, and there is a concern about BPA in water which is toxic and may cause cancer. This plastic has been found in baby bottles, sports bottles, containers, and more. Something to stay away from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A
Third of all, they can put practically anything in waterbottles. Brita is great, filtered water makes everything taste fresh. Tap water goes through much more testing and regulation than bottled water, as the government looks after this. And a lot of bottled water comes from your municipal supply anyways!
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/rethink-what-you-drink/article51807.html
http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp
Besides, tap water is way cheaper
An important tip to going green is to reduce first. The reuse when necessary. If you can’t, then the last thing to do is to recycle. Also, going green should save money, not cost more. So think before you buy. And the internet is a great resource. If you aren’t thrilled about how unenvironmental a product is, just Google alternatives.
I recommend the website http://pioneerthinking.com and greenliving. I also have a youtube channel with a bit of green vids on there. http://youtube.com/thinkgreenlovepurple
Think green, love purple!