Plastic water bottles are a huge threat to the environment and to ourselves. It seems as though people are almost scared to drink tap water because they do not think it is healthy. I also think that a lot of people are lazy and like the fact that they can just stop whenever they need to to buy a plastic water bottle. Because of these two factors, millions of people buy plastic water bottles everyday. And unfortunately, a lot of those people do not recycle them. In fact, the amount of bottles I see on the side of the road and in parking lots every day leads me to believe that they don’t even properly throw them out, let alone recycle them. I think that if we could just get everyone who uses bottled water to recycle it, that could make quite a difference on it’s own. But I really believe that it would be better if we just stopped using them all together.
Aside from killing our planet, these bottles can be very dangerous for our health. It seems as though most companies have eliminated Bisphenol A (BPA) from their products, but those who didn’t are could be putting your health at serious risk. It is hard to know the possible effects of BPA for sure, because we don’t know exactly how much each person is using in their lifetime and it would depend on that. But, it is believed, and seen in studies using animal subjects, that BPA can cause many health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and many other issues as well. The chemical in BPA is known to “mimic the effect of oestrogen” (Taylor-Smith, 2018), this could lead to breast cancer in some consumers. On top of all of those issues, research has found about 93% of water from commonly used water bottle brands contained microplastics. Microplastics are little pieces of plastic, “less than 5mm long” (Taylor-Smith, 2018), that are are found in a lot of bottled water. That means that you could be drinking plastic and all of the chemicals that are in it. And while I’m on the topic of microplastics, I would like to mention that since our oceans are filled with plastic, which is being consumed by the animals, you could also be consuming plastic and chemicals just by eating an animal who already ate the plastic.
It is so important that we cut plastic out of our daily lives, and water bottles are a great way to start. In fact, I completely stopped using plastic water bottles in February of this year and it has been surprisingly easy. I have glass water bottles that I fill up before I leave the house, so that I never have to buy a plastic one while I’m out. The only issue I ever really run into is sporting events that do not allow glass bottles, and in that case I buy boxed water and bring one of those. There are many ways to cut out plastic water bottles and it is so easy. Not to mention that it can help save our planet and your health.
Sources
Taylor-Smith, K. (2018, September 10). Plastic Water Bottles are a Danger to Your Health. Retrieved from https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=790
This is such an important topic, that should be taken seriously. In my opinion, over the years recycling has become easier and more of a common trend. You see the use of biodegradable products at small businesses and venues more often than ever before. I ran the Berlin Marathon this past weekend, and they were even trying to implement a new form of reusable cups at the water stations. They tested this method last year where they cleaned and reused the cups on the spot, this was determined to be unsanitary. However, this year it was tested at km 38, where they collected the cups to properly clean and reuse at a later date. Before the race they explained how using the cups helped the environment and as long as you dumped them in the proper recycle container they could be reused later on. Obviously, not every cup made its way to the collection bin, but I made every attempt to follow the process along with others.
Just a small change like this would prevent so much waste. The alternate cups were also recyclable, which is great considering the number of cups that are thrown on the ground throughout the race. Last year, the London marathon banned single use plastic bottles from a half marathon, instead opting to use a company that offered water in biodegradable sachets. “The makers of Ooho, which is biodegradable within six weeks, claim it is a world first and said it aims to curb the devastating effect of plastic on the oceans and the environment” (Smithers, 2018).
Environmental Management EMAS. (2019, September 23). Retrieved from https://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com/en/footer/environmental-management-emas/.
Smithers, R. (2018, September 12). Single use plastic bottles banned from half marathon in London. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/12/single-use-plastic-bottles-banned-from-half-marathon-in-london.
The harm that these water bottles cause to our environment and our health is a lot worse than people realize. Plastic bottles are not biodegradable in any meaningful way and the plastic bottles that we use can actually stick around for a thousand years (Peppard, 2019). Like you mentioned many people don’t even dispose of these bottles correctly making it impossible to control where they end up. I agree with you that plastic is not just simply bad for the planet but also bad for us. Even though companies are using BPA-free plastic for the bottles have other chemicals that can seep out if bottles are exposed to heat or sit around for a long time (Peppard, 2019). Many of these chemicals are possible endocrine disruptors and can have a very damaging impact on the human body (Peppard, 2019). A lot of people don’t realize that by using these bottles in trying to consume healthy water they could actually be causing more harm to their bodies. I personally have my own BPA free bottle that I constantly fill out with my 5-gallon dispenser. It helps me save money because I don’t have to constantly buy water and it helps the environment with the plastic problem. It’s important for people to become more educated about the impact that plastic bottles can have on the environment and on their health, and maybe this will help lower the consumption and starts solving this problem. Great post!
References:
Peppard, Christiana. (2019) 7 Reasons To Never Drink Bottled Water Again. Retrieved from https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11193/7-reasons-to-never-drink-bottled-water-again.html
Plastic bottles are harmful not only to the environment but to our health as well. Plastic bottles are not biodegradable and will remain in our environment forever. The bottles will eventually degrade into smaller pieces known as micro-plastics. We use 17 million barrels of oil each year to produce water bottles (Schriever, 2017). Isn’t that crazy? That is enough oil to keep a million cars a million cars fueled for a whole year! It is also no secret that you should not drink from water bottles that have been sitting in a hot car for a long period of time. If these harmful chemicals are present in water bottles, why even drink from them? I agree that people should start using reusable water bottle. I have a few that I use every single day. It saves money too!
Reference:
Schriever, N. (2017, December 7). Plastic Water Bottles Causing Flood of Harm to Our Environment. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/post_b_3613577