Bottled Drinking Water
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Here in Canada, we have the privilege of having access to filtered drinking water in our homes, at a relatively low cost. When we need a drink, we can simply turn on the tap and fill a glass. If we have it so cheap at home, why do we still buy plastic bottles? When we buy water bottles from a store, not only are we polluting the earth, but we are paying more than 15 000 times what it would cost from the tap at home. One litre of water at home costs around 0.015¢. A 500mL bottle of Nestle water costs around $1! On top of that, one out of three companies, including Coca-Cola's Dasani, actually take straight filtered municipal water and sell it in their bottles. These companies have manipulated humans into thinking that our tap water is not as good as bottled water. In reality, it is exactly the same, if not better. First of all, leaching of chemicals such as BPA from the plastic bottles can actually make plastic bottles dangerous. Plus, Canadian water has fluoride in it, so it benefits your teeth.
Bottled water also creates huge amounts of fossil fuel emissions, and uses tons of crude oil. Unlike tap water, which is delivered home to home via energy efficient systems, bottled water is transported by trucks, boats and trains. One out of four bottles travel internationally to get to its destination. In addition to transportation, these bottles take about 17 million barrels of oil every year to manufacture in North America. If you were to fill every bottle a quarter of the way full with oil, that amount is the amount used to make that water bottle alone.
Worldwide, 2.5 billion kilograms of plastic are used in the production of these bottles every year. Creating these bottles uses far more water than they contain, as for each kilogram of plastic, we require 17.5 litres of water. Plastic production is using more than 340 times the amount of water that the average Canadian consumes in their lifetime, every year!
Bottled water also creates huge amounts of fossil fuel emissions, and uses tons of crude oil. Unlike tap water, which is delivered home to home via energy efficient systems, bottled water is transported by trucks, boats and trains. One out of four bottles travel internationally to get to its destination. In addition to transportation, these bottles take about 17 million barrels of oil every year to manufacture in North America. If you were to fill every bottle a quarter of the way full with oil, that amount is the amount used to make that water bottle alone.
Worldwide, 2.5 billion kilograms of plastic are used in the production of these bottles every year. Creating these bottles uses far more water than they contain, as for each kilogram of plastic, we require 17.5 litres of water. Plastic production is using more than 340 times the amount of water that the average Canadian consumes in their lifetime, every year!
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All that plastic would not be such an issue if we recycled it, but in Canada, only 12% of bottles get recycled. The other 88% ends up sitting in landfills, and even worse, natural habitats. Animals that see them think that they can try to eat them, but they end up getting seriously hurt. Small animals will often put their heads through the plastic ring from the neck of a bottle. This can lead to them not being able to grow properly in that area, causing inability to take in food and also strangling them.
Turtle that stuck it's body through a plastic ring when it was
a baby. Look at the damage it has done!
Turtle that stuck it's body through a plastic ring when it was
a baby. Look at the damage it has done!
In the following video, we see the overall impact of bottled water and the influence it has on us. With all their advertisements, these companies have persuaded us into thinking that bottled water is better than tap water, when it can actually be worse. It shows that people believe they are doing the right thing, but they actually have no idea about what is happening to them, their wallets and the environment from the production and consumption of these bottles and their contents.