America's Bottled Water Addiction fuels high Gas Prices
Most water companies use PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) plastics to bottle their products. The manufacturing process of PET plastic bottles requires a combination of natural gas and petroleum. It takes more than 17 million barrels of oil annually to create enough plastic to meet America's demand for bottled water. That is enough to fuel more than one million cars in the U.S. for an entire year.
Another problem is the transportation costs of bottled water. Water is very heavy and it takes a lot of fuel to transport millions of tons of drinking water every day. When the time comes to recycle these plastic bottles, even more oil is needed as recycling plants require large amounts of fuel and clean water to operate. So even the recycling of plastic bottles becomes a major depletion of the Earth's precious natural resources.
Research from the Beverage Marketing Corp estimates that the average American consumption of bottled water has jumped from 1.6 gallons per person a year in 1976 to over 30.2 gallons a year in 2007. It's no coincidence that our gas prices have increased dramatically along with our consumption of bottled water.
We can all make a difference by simply making a small change in our lifestyle and reducing our dependence on bottled water. Filtering your own pure drinking water at home and using a reusable water bottle is a small step that can make a big difference for the environment.
