Top 5 reasons to stop your bottled water buying habit
Why do we buy bottled water?
Bottled water has become an everyday convenience for many. People buy it to drink on the go, at the gym, for guests at parties. Even at home on your own, it might seem easier to grab a bottle of water than filling a glass and washing it afterwards.
I have to add a disclaimer here:
Bottled water can be a lifesaver if you live in an area with contaminated water, or for people living through a disaster where clean water is not available. However, in developed countries, the majority of people can get safe drinking water straight from the tap.
Why do people buy water, in countries where the tap water is safe, available and free?
We have been sold the idea that we need to buy bottled water:
The answer is simple, effective marketing. Bottled water is marketed to us as cleaner, healthier, crisper and tastier than regular old tap water. All of these traits, except for perhaps taste, are constructed by marketing teams to sell a product that nobody actually needs.
https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/science-behind-bottled-water-why-were-still-buying-it
The negatives of plastic water bottles
Water in bottles is a convenience that has huge negative consequences. Buying water in plastic bottles is bad for the environment, a waste of money, and a waste of resources.
Here are five reasons to stop buying bottled water
1. Plastic pollution
Disposable plastic water bottles create a large amount of unnecessary waste. We can put plastic bottles into our recycling bins, but less than 10% of plastic is ever recycled worldwide. Most plastic bottles end up in landfill. And as plastic has an estimate lifespan of 450 years, these bottles are going to keep piling up.
It’s hard to find the worldwide statistics for the amount of water bottles sold. However, the figures from the USA show that more than 70 billion plastic water bottles were bought in 2018. That’s only the USA, and they are not even the biggest consumers of bottled water:
In 2018, Mexico and Thailand had the highest per capita consumption of bottled water worldwide, at 72.4 gallons of bottled water per person.
https://www.statista.com/statistics
Plastic makes up a huge part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive collection of debris in the north Pacific. As plastic doesn’t dissolve, items like plastic water bottles that end up in the Garbage Patch are broken down by the sun and waves into smaller pieces. There are as many as 1.9 million pieces of plastic in a single square mile.
These microplastics are eaten by fish, sea mammals, and birds. They have been found in the bodies of many dead sea animals. And as humans eat fish that may have eaten microplastics, we eat it too.
2. A waste of money
Bottled water is much more expensive than tap water.
Researching this topic, I found studies showing that bottled water can cost from 300 to 2600 times the cost of tap water. For example, a 2013 study by ConvergEx Group compared the cost of bottled water to tap water, and found that people are spending 300 times the cost of tap water to buy bottled water. That was based on water by the gallon (as it was a US study).
When they investigated the more common 16.9 oz. size bottles (which make up about two-thirds of sales), they found the water cost almost 2,000 times the price of the same amount of regular tap water.
A similar study reported on ThoughtCo reported that in the USA, a person would save well over $1,000 a year by switching from shop bought bottled water to refillable bottles filled from the tap. This is likely the same for other similar countries.
3. Plastic bottles need a lot of water to make them
It takes more water to make a plastic water bottle than actually goes into filling it.
The International Bottled Water Association … commissioned its first ever study to figure out how much water goes into producing one liter <of bottled water>. The results <released in 2013> show that for North American companies, it takes 1.39 liters to make one liter of water.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/10/28/241419373/how-much-water-actually-goes-into-making-a-bottle-of-water
That extra 0.39 litres might not sound like much, however, over millions of plastic bottles, it really adds up.
4. Plastic Bottles Could be Harmful to Your Health
One possible reason for the increase in consumption of bottled water is that people want to be healthy, and are increasing their water intake, to meet the recommended daily water intake targets. This is important for health, but drinking from plastic bottles may actually be a health issue.
The problem is BPA or bisphenol-A. According to the Mayo Clinic:
Some research has shown that BPA can seep into food or beverages from containers that are made with BPA. Exposure to BPA is a concern because of possible health effects of BPA on the brain and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children. It can also affect children’s behavior. Additional research suggests a possible link between BPA and increased blood pressure.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/bpa/faq-20058331
Leaving water to sit in the bottle and get warm makes it more likely that BPA will leach into the water.
5. It could be tap water anyway
Some companies take water from the municipal water supply for their bottled water products. In other words, it is the same as tap water.
In the USA, Pepsi’s brand Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani brand are both from the ‘Public Water Source’, meaning they are tap water.
Alternative to bottled water – take a reusable bottle with you
Switching to reusable water bottles is one of my top easy swaps to a lower waste life.
If you use a drink bottle you can refill over and over again, you can help reduce excess plastic packaging going into landfill.
Reusable bottles
At home, we have a range of reusuable drink bottles. I like to use these ones:
- ECOtanka – these stainless steel bottles are very hard wearing, plus you can get replacement lids if you need to.
- Kathmandu – we have some kids bottles that have lasted for years.
- Tupperware – ok, I know they are plastic. However, are very good quality and will last for years. I bought bottles similar to these ones: Tupperware Aqua Safe ECO Sports 500 ml New Water Bottles ( Set Of 4 ) Original
Final thoughts
To sum up, plastic pollution is a huge problem in the world. Although it feels hard to make a difference on a big scale, we do have power in the choices we make everyday. Every time you choose to reuse or refuse to buy a throwaway plastic item, as a result, there is one less item that goes into landfill.
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