A Bottles' Journey
Have you ever considered how a plastic bottle is created, or what happens to it when you’re done?
Most have not since the average person consumes 167 bottles of water each year equalling approximately 29,800,000,000 bottles.
Let’s start at the beginning. There are many steps involved and many natural resources used throughout the process. In the flowchart, take note how many times the bottle is transported throughout the process and be aware that transportation releases emissions that contribute to air pollution.
Most of the bottles are thrown into the trash.
The rest are recycled and brought to a factory (by truck), then turned into other items like carpet, fleece and clothes.
Water Bottle Facts:
- 73-90% of bottles are not They end up in landfills or are incinerated with other regular trash.
- Each year, 17,000,000 barrels of oil are used to make the plastic for the bottles. That’s enough to fuel 1,000,000 cars for a year.
- Each year, 16.4 billion gallons of water are used to make the plastic for the bottles, not including the water in the bottles.
- More than 2,500,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions are released in the production of plastic bottles.
- All plastic that is used for food and drink is brand new plastic. For health reasons, recycled plastic cannot be used.
THE TAKEAWAY: Please consider carrying your own refillable water bottle.