If you aren’t using a reusable water bottle, you’re probably using packaged water bottles and affecting the environment already. Learn how in the following.
- Death of water species- Not all plastics end up recycled. Packaged drinking water comes in single-use plastic bottles and many of them end up in landfills, the environment and oceans. Around 8.8 million tons of plastic goes into the ocean every year. Plastic trash is found in the guts of more than 90% of the world’s sea turtles and choking many other species to death.
- Microplastics enter the food chain- Plastic waste in the ocean breaks down into microplastic and gets consumed by fishes and most likely ends up in our body. The chemicals present in the plastic have been linked to a variety of health problems, including reproductive harm and obesity, plus issues such as organ problems and developmental delays in children.
- Burning of plastic waste- Many developing countries often lack the tax bases and infrastructure needed to put waste management systems into place. So, residents and governments often burn piles of their trash in the open, thus increasing the global emissions of harmful gases and other pollutants by an exponential amount. The toxic fumes released in turn cause cancer and other respiratory diseases.
- More production of plastic- Plastic waste generation is strongly influenced by primary plastic use as well as the product-use lifetime. Packaging has a short (in-use) lifetime and therefore is the dominant generator of plastic waste. In 2015, primary plastics production was 407 million tonnes and three-fourths of them ended up as waste. In 2013, the industry put 78 million tonnes of plastic packaging on the market, with a total value of $260 billion.10 Plastic packaging volumes are expected to continue their strong growth, doubling within 15 years and more than quadruple by 2050, to 318 million tonnes annually – more than the entire plastics industry today.
- Recycling of plastic is also harmful- The process of melting down and recycling plastic produces VOC , or volatile organic compounds, fumes that can harm plant and animal life near the industrial site. The heat needed to melt plastic also generates carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming. Most plastics are downcycled because of the health threat caused by actual recycling. For example, a plastic bottle may be downcycled to become a piece of furniture or a carpet and is unfit for another round of recycling. It also delays the process and there is still a demand for new plastics.
A simple way of using a reusable bottle can impact the environment. Go for environment-friendly bottles that aren’t plastic, get your steel bottle today. Also, buying a more durable bottle will save you from burning a hole in your pocket too.