Reduce Plastic Waste Part II

I could make make a big deal about how changing this environmentally destructive behavior will alter my daily routine and how I’m scared yet up for the challenge, you know… make me sound like a hero making a big change, but this habit of wasting plastic water bottles will be a piece of cake to alter.  All it will take is giving myself an extra minute and a half before leaving for class to fill up my huge reusable water bottle.  This bottle is easy to carry in the pocket of my backpack and has a handle, which allows me to use it all day wherever I go.   By doing this, I won’t feel the need to buy another two plastic water bottles in lower.  Instead of buying two or three water bottles, I can just refill my water bottle and get the same results without the waste.  Not buying two water bottles from lower will also free up a space for getting two healthy items such as fruit or milk.  I’ll be able to wash down my delicious banana and Nutella crepe knowing that I made an environmentally friendly decision.

Campaigns for using refillable water bottles and reducing the amount of plastic we consume are constantly publicized, but why are they so bad for the environment?  The production of plastic bottles requires oil. “17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of plastic bottles per year in the US only,” claims an author from www.hydratelife.org (2012).  By using refillable water bottles instead, we are able to put that oil to a better use.  Along with the wasted oil, producing water bottles wastes energy through its transportation to the market, and not to mention the tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere (2012).  Besides the wasted energy and resources needed for the production of plastic water bottles, they are disrupting the ocean and its inhabitants.  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a trash pile made up of mostly plastics, has seeped into the ocean and made it a dangerous environment for the animals living in and around the water (2012).  Even when we leave a bottle or two lying on the beach after a long day it creates a more dangerous environment for the inhabitants.  Lastly, drinking tap water is healthier for us than from plastic water bottles, for the most part.  In a study done in 2008, thirty eight contaminants were found in plastic water bottles that claim to be purified (2012).

 

“Bottled Water: Why It’s Bad for You, the Environment, and Water – Part II.” Web log post.HydrateLife. N.p., 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.