Bottled Water

Americans drink about 23 gallons of bottled water per person every year in the United States. Bottled water requires a great deal of energy and produces a lot of waste. From the plastic bottles, to the refrigerated trucks used for shipping, to the storage of those bottles in your refrigerator — Bottled water requires a lot of energy. Most people assume that bottled water is safer and purer than tap water. The labels on the water bottles evoke thoughts of purity, with images of mountains, glaciers, and babbling brooks. In reality, as much as 40% of bottled water is merely bottled tap water and in most cases, tap water is at least as safe as bottled water.

Bottled water also costs about 10,000 times the cost of tap or filtered water. By using your own mug instead of buying one individual, disposable plastic bottle every day, you could save $500 a year. What’s more, you’ll help reduce the 60 billion plastic bottles being sent to the landfill every year.

To read more about bottled water, check out this article on Bottled Water versus Tap.