Where does your water bottle end up?
One of the most obvious impacts of plastic bottles is what happens after the water has been consumed
Despite recycling infrastructure that exists in order to facilitate the recycling of these bottles, according to the Container Recycling Institute, 80% of plastic water bottles used become garbage that ends up in landfills. That means roughly for every 10 bottles we drink, only two end up in the recycle bin. Considering that approximately 60 million plastic water bottles are used every day in the US, we can assume that nearly 18,834,000,000 end up in the landfill of the US only each year
The vast majority of what's found in the sea originates from the land - from sewage, storm drains, waterways, beach and coastal litter, as well as dumping, industrial activities and landfill sites. Compared to plastic in oceans, we are able to more directly manage landfills. On average each bottle takes 400 up to 700 years to decompose. This means the biggest risk of plastic water bottles within landfills is the potential that the plastic will not be contained. However, in vulnerable remote parts of the world there is no control.
The only solution is the disappearance of disposable plastic bottles. Don't buy them. You are about to pay for a bottle of tap water which will to an 80% chance will end up in the landfill....
Despite recycling infrastructure that exists in order to facilitate the recycling of these bottles, according to the Container Recycling Institute, 80% of plastic water bottles used become garbage that ends up in landfills. That means roughly for every 10 bottles we drink, only two end up in the recycle bin. Considering that approximately 60 million plastic water bottles are used every day in the US, we can assume that nearly 18,834,000,000 end up in the landfill of the US only each year
The vast majority of what's found in the sea originates from the land - from sewage, storm drains, waterways, beach and coastal litter, as well as dumping, industrial activities and landfill sites. Compared to plastic in oceans, we are able to more directly manage landfills. On average each bottle takes 400 up to 700 years to decompose. This means the biggest risk of plastic water bottles within landfills is the potential that the plastic will not be contained. However, in vulnerable remote parts of the world there is no control.
The only solution is the disappearance of disposable plastic bottles. Don't buy them. You are about to pay for a bottle of tap water which will to an 80% chance will end up in the landfill....
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