Water is obviously a better choice than a soft drink for the health-conscious consumer, but it is also part of a growing problem. Take the 8 billion gallons of water consumed and divide by the number of individual serve containers used to package it and you are left with more than 60 million water bottles being thrown away each day. Currently, less than 25% of bottles are being recycled. Most often this is simply due to inconvenience. Bottled water is taken on the go and often times, there is not a recycling container available for use when needed.

The demand for these empty bottles far exceeds the supply. For this reason, new bottles must be made from raw materials, requiring more energy and more resources. Plastic is made from petroleum. Recycling plastic bottles is a better use of a nonrenewable resource than landfilling and reduces our dependency on foreign suppliers of oil.

So what can we do?
• Consider drinking tap water instead of bottled water when it is available, and fill your own reusable container to take with you. For those who prefer bottled water for taste preferences or other reasons, try to reduce the number of bottles you use. Buy water in large containers and then use a single refillable container for water on the go.
• Water bottles can not only be used to hold water again, but can also be used for many other purposes. Be creative and find new ways to give your water bottle a second life.
• Finally, and most simply, recycle. It may take a little effort, but in the end it’s the best way to cut down on the number of plastic water bottles that are ending up in landfills. To find out where you can recycle, click here.